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Singaporean Maximilian Zeng once again showed off his impressive wealth of knowledge with quickfire answers to various obscure geographical-related questions in the final of the British quiz programme University Challenge, aired on Apr. 4.

He helped Imperial College London beat the University of Reading 125 to 115, and be crowned the champions of University Challenge 2022. 

What happened

The finals began with the Imperial College team taking the lead after Zeng correctly identified a quote by the historian Thucydides, securing his team an early 10 points.

Zeng continued his dominant performance in the next round, as he successfully answered and identified geographical regions on a map.

When the show host Paxman presented the team with a highlighted portion of a region on a world map, Zeng immediately identified the natural region and UNESCO World Heritage Site as "Sundarbans".

He buzzes in even before his team captain Michael Mays nominates him to answer for the team.

Zeng then repeats his answer to Paxman and, of course, gets it correct.

He also subsequently gets the answer to another bonus geography question posed by Paxman correct.

In a tense finish, Zeng then fires off the answer to another lesser-known geography question – which required the team to identify the area in which the highest peak in South Wales is located – and narrows the gap between his team and the University of Reading's.

The Imperial College team then regains the lead with another 10 points from two bonus questions on planetary explorations, answered by Zeng's teammates.

The rest is, as they say, history.

Love for maps

According to a previous interview with CNA, Zeng had received his first world map when he was three and knew all countries and capitals by the time he was six.

He stares at a map for four hours each day, he said.

He also said he hates Google Maps.

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Top images via Dave Garda YouTube