A 15-year-old student from Dagupan City beat 21 other contestants to crown herself again as the country’s Sudoku Grandmaster.

Sarah Jane Cua, a third year high school student of Pangasinan Universal Institute, emerged as the champion in the 4th Philippine Sudoku Super Challenge grand finals held Saturday at SM City North EDSA Annex.

“I felt nervous,” Cua said, referring to the moment when she was solving the fifth and final puzzle. After getting a perfect score in the first round, she topped the next four rounds to clinch the title.

According to Dr. Simon Chua, president of the Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines (MTG), the chief organizer of the contest, 118 students and professionals joined the Sudoku contest in three categories: Whiz Kid, Wizard and Grandmaster.

“Sudoku has become a popular number puzzle game in the Philippines and we are delighted on the number of participants this year,” Chua said.

In the Grandmaster division, Cua garnered 1,601 points from five rounds to win the title and went home with P60,000 in cash prize and a trophy. Other winners are Matthew Chris Chan from Manila, who bagged first runner-up and P40,000; Mariel Alexis Dee from Metro Manila, second runner-up and won P30,000; Jayhan Regner from Cagayan de Oro City, third runner-up; and Frederick Ong from Bacolod City, fourth runner-up.

Cua, the reigning champion in the Grandmaster division, also won the grand prize in the Brand’s Asia Pacific Open Sudoku contest held in Singapore in 2008. Last year, John Robert Valcos, a student of St. Mary’s College in Bulacan; and Cua were declared champion and first runner-up, respectively, in the 3rd Brand’s Sudoku Thailand International Open 2009 Princess Somsawali Cup held in Bangkok.

In the Sudoku Wizard, Timothy James Tan of Bacolod won first place and P50,000. First runner-up went to Sed Anderson Holaysan of Cebu City who was awarded P30,000 and second runner-up was Ma. Czarina Angela Lao of Metro Manila who won P20,000. Ericson Ong of Olongapo City, and Kimberly Christine Decear of Zamboanga City completed the top five. A total of 75 high school students competed in the division.

Ethan Riley Chan of Zamboanga City, on the other hand, emerged as champion in the Sudoku Whiz Kid and went home with P20,000. He was followed by Magin Benedict Ferrer of Iloilo City who won P10,000; Lorenzo Jose Baquiran of Iloilo City who won P5,000; Kate Ann Adlaon of Lucena City who is the third runner-up; and Candice Renee Beatric Solidarios of Calamba City, fourth runner-up.