Sunday Times 2
Lankan scrabble players shine at WESPA Youth Cup 2018
View(s):The Sri Lanka Youth Scrabble team turned in a n.oteworthy performance at the WESPA Youth Cup 2018 held in Dubai from December 13-15. The tournament is the equivalent of the world youth championship for the sport and was conducted by the World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA), with 116 players from 15 countries participating.
The top 10 players at the WESPA Youth Cup, including three Sri Lankans (3rd from right onwards: Radinka Dissanayake, Janul de Silva and Aabid Ismail)
Continuing his consistent good form, Janul De Silva of Royal College became the 1st runner up this year, repeating his achievement of the previous year. Aabid Ismail, also from Royal College, who was the world champion last year, was placed fourth. Bishops’ College student Radinka Dissanayake was placed tenth and became the only female player in the top 10.
Gateway International School’s Adheesha Dissanayake who was under 10 champion last year, won the high game score award, whilst Aabid won the high word score award. Sri Lanka narrowly missed the Best Team Award, which it had secured for the past three years, by one point. Pakistan won the Best Team Award, with Sri Lanka placed second.
Three other members of the Sri Lanka team were also placed within the top 20 in the tournament — VigneshPirapaharan of Lyceum International School Panadura, Therunee Karunaratne of Musaeus College and Thirandi de Silva of Ladies’ College. The other participants representing Sri Lanka were Qays Sangani and Pasindu Malawaraarchchi (both of Royal College) and Hemaka Gunasekera (of Lyceum International School Nugegoda).
Vidullanka PLC was one of the team sponsors, in line with its endeavours to support Sri Lankan youth to compete in sports at international level. Phoenix Industries were the corporate sponsors for Scrabble for the second consecutive year. The Scrabble Federation of Sri Lanka which is the accredited body for the sport in the country, supported the team in their participation.