Two days ago, the Year 6 pupil emerged as the youngest winner at the World Robotics Championship held in New Delhi, India.

Teaming up with his father, Muslim Tamsir, 38, who is also his school teacher, the pair beat 30 other teams comprising students from secondary schools, colleges and universities, in the “water rocket” competition.

“The competition was very tough. On the second day, our water rocket had to be launched twice and recorded quite an unsatisfying time, but it seemed luck was on our side when we still managed to finish in the top 10 on the third day of the championship.

“In the final match, we were only allowed to launch a rocket once, but before that, we could do three trials. At the time, we only had two rockets, but luckily, we brought some spare parts for another rocket, and another nose cone.

“Unexpectedly, the third rocket we fixed and launched ad-hoc, stayed in the air the longest, for about 11 seconds,” said Muslim.

He said all the materials used, such as plastics, adhesive tape and corrugated board, as well as two-litre soft drink bottles were brought from Malaysia.

Muslim, who teaches Science as well as Information Technology and Telecommunications, said Danish, his eldest son, was quite calm during the competition despite being surrounded by older participants.

“He was really good throughout the competition. He was very focused on what we had planned and knew what to do. I also told him that the main purpose of entering any competition is to gain experience and more knowledge on what he is interested in (rockets).

“I told him if we win, it would be a bonus, although so far in all competitions, we have not gone home empty-handed,” he added.