Boy, 9, beats out over 2,000 participants to be Singapore's UNO champion

SINGAPORE - Nine-year-old Nigel Ong has been crowned Singapore's Numero UNO after beating 2,060 participants at the UNO Challenge held on Sunday at City Square Mall.

The Anderson Primary School student emerged winner of the popular card game after competing in rounds of competition around the island over the past three months.

In the finals, he outwitted 83 other participants to become the top UNO player in Singapore.

With this win, he will represent Singapore as the Grand Champion and compete with other champions from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong for the first-ever Numero UNO of Asia title later this November.

The humble and soft-spoken Ong, who enjoys playing the game with his family in his free time, said he did not expect to win the competition. He said he will do his best when he represents Singapore in Tokyo, Japan.

wjeanne@sph.com.sg