India, July 17 -- For Ludhiana's Aryan Gupta, the road to the top of NEET-UG 2026 came with an unexpected second round. The 17-year-old scored 715 out of 720 marks to share the national top spot with Haryana's Panshul Bansal when the results were declared on Thursday.

The original examination was cancelled following allegations of a paper leak, sending aspirants back into preparation mode for the June 21 re-test. For Aryan, the news took time to sink in. "It took a while to get back into the study mode," he admits.

What helped him reset between long hours of studying? Anime episodes, music and quick games of table tennis. A Japanese animation enthusiast, Aryan says he would "watch an episode during a break, listen to his favourite track...