Lankan youths take scrabble by storm
View(s):Young Sri Lankan participants grabbed many awards at the concluded World Youth Scrabble Championship including the prize for the best team held in Perth, Australia from October 31 to November 2. Out of the ten youngsters took part at the world event, Janul de Silva claimed the prize for the best player in the Under-14 category while Vignesh Pirapaharan gave him a close run and claimed second place in the same category.
Highest rated scrabble player in the world Nigel Richards with the best Under-14 scrabble player in the world Janul de Silva
Janul (13) of Royal College, making only his second appearance at the WYSC, also laid claim to the overall fourth place of the tournament. Thirandi de Silva of Ladies College became the only girl in the top ten as she claimed the prize for the sixth place from the same age category for girls.
Tournament veteran Lambotharan Yoganathan, making his final WYSC appearance, left his imprint by grabbing the eighth place. All top ten players received trophies from their respective categories. Sri Lanka became the only country with three finishers in the top ten and won the award for the best team. Other countries did not have more than one player among the top ten. This is the first time that Sri Lanka won the team award. Their previous best was being placed third in 2014.
The youngsters who represented Sri Lanka at WYSC: Thirandi de Silva, Janul de Silva, Vignesh Pirapaharan, Lambotharan Yoganathan, Hasindu Arumapperuma, Aabid Ismail, Migara Jayasinghe, Thalakshman Yoganathan, Janidu Karunaratne, Radinka Dissanayake
Migara Jayasinghe, previous winner of the Under-14 and Under-12 titles, making his sixth appearance and won the prize for the highest game with a staggering 693 points in the very first round of the tournament. Other players in the team also performed creditably with two others finishing in the top 15. Both missed out places in top ten after suffering defeats at the hands of fellow Sri Lankans.
Three time world champion Nigel Richards with Janul, Thirandi and Lambotharan
Sri Lanka was represented by Migara Jayasinghe (16, Lyceum Wattala), Janidu Karunaratne (13, Lyceum Wattala), Thavalakshman Yoganathan (15, Lyceum Wattala), Hasindu Arumapperuma (17, Royal), Aabid Ismail (14, Royal), Janul de Silva (13, Royal), Mukkesh Selvaraj (17, Stafford), Vignesh Pirapaharan (13, S. Thomas’), Radinka Dissanayake (13, Bishops) and Thirandi de Silva (14, Ladies) at this tournament, which was held for the tenth occasion with the participation of young players from all over the world.
The World Youth Scrabble Championship is organised by the World English Language Scrabble Players Association for players of Under-18 years of age. It’s held once a year in different countries. Sri Lanka selected the ten youngsters with the highest average ratings over the past 20 months.