Twice World Scrabble winners felicitated in France
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The Sri Lanka (SL) Youth Scrabble Team which won the Best Team title for the 2nd successive year at the 11thWorld Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) held in Lille, France, were felicitated by SL’s Ambassador to France, Tilak Ranaviraja, recently, at the SL Embassy in France. The SL team led from the start at the 11th WYSC to retain the team title they won in Perth, Australia, in 2015. A total of 107 Scrabblers from 15 countries fought over 24 rounds at this year’s Championship. Sanchith Kapoor of UAE was the winner at this year’s Championship, while Thailand and Pakistan came 2nd and 3rd respectively, in the team event.
Thavalakshman Yoganathan of Lyceum International School (LIS) Wattala produced the best ever performance by a Sri Lankan at a WYSC, to emerge 1st Runner-up, narrowly edging out team mate Aabid Ismail of Royal College, on margins. Aabid, in addition to becoming 2nd Runner-up, also emerged as the Under (U)-16 World Champion at this Year’s Championship, and shared the Highest Word Award with compatriot Hansi Weerasooriya of Museaus College and Sohaib Sanaullah of Pakistan.
The strength and depth of the SL team was clearly evident with Qays Sangani of Royal College, who narrowly missed out on being selected to the team, and took part as a private candidate, outperforming several of his more experienced compatriots to emerge 8th at the Championship. Janul de Silva of Royal College who emerged 4th overall and was the U-14 World Champion in 2015, narrowly missed out on a place in the top 10, and was 11th at this year’s Championship. Migara Jayasinghe of LIS Wattala who participated for the 7th successive year with several awards in previous years, was the most experienced player at this year’s Championship, while Hayati Rassool of Ladies College and Thavalakshman participated for the 4th time.
Thirandi de Silva of Ladies College who was sixth in 2015, Vignesh Pirapaharan of LIS Panadura, Radinka Dissanayake of Bishops College, Aabid and Janul participated for the 3rd time. Hansi, Qays and Danusha Muhandiramge of LIS Nugegoda participated for the 2nd time. Nusrath Sariffo’deen who represented Sri Lanka in 2013 participated this year as a private candidate, while Thushini de Silva of Visakha Vidyalaya and Matheesha de Silva of Royal College also participated as private candidates.
While the team winners were decided based on the wins secured by the top 3 participants, the defeats inflicted by the entire Sri Lankan contingent on their foreign counterparts ensured that the number of wins achieved by other countries remained low. Scrabble as a mind sport not only develops vocabulary and language skills but, develops strategic thinking, making it a unique experience for both young and old. The team was selected based on the criteria specified by the SL Scrabble League.