It's the final rounds of the competition and contestants have drawn numbers which will stay on with them until the Finals. "Contestant number one, your word is connoisseur", a very tense Manudhya Wickramasekara from Hillwood College Kandy after seconds of dead silence finally begins to gather her nerves and commence spelling, the tension gets in, and she fumbles and gets it incorrect. It's not an easy task being the first up to spell among the top 18 contestants, in the Spellmaster.
In this competition the spellers were given the opportunity to select a word from a pool of 200 words. Those who spelled correctly remained in the competition, and those who didn't found themselves closer to being eliminated from the competition. Sarith Bandara from Trinity College Kandy continues to impress, and gets the two words given to him, "Fallacious" and "Flabbergasted" spot on, making him the only contestant throughout the competition to have gotten all words given to him correct. Rashidah Hassan from Good Shepherd Convent Kandy who was almost eliminated last week made an impressive comeback this week getting the words, "Dodecagon" and "Sovereign", presented to her right. Speaking on the preparation and support she gets to participate in the competition, she mentioned that her brother who was in the audience was a pillar of strength to her throughout and couldn't have done it without him. Archana Perera from St.Peter's College Colombo 4 was the other competitor who got the two words given to him right.
After two rounds of words fourteen contestants had answered at least one word right, making them eligible for the next round. This left only 4 spellers to fight for the balance 2 berths in the next round. Jeewantha Bandara of Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, Lanka Kumarasinghe of Swarnapali Balika Maha Vidyalaya Anuradhapura, Wasana Sevwandi of Southlands College Galle and Ummesalama Hussain of Burhani Serendib School Colombo.
In the first set up Wasana Sevwandi got her word "Chiropodist" right and secured a place to the next round. This left Jeewantha, Lanka and Ummesalama to battle it out, "Charlatan" was the word given to Jeewantha, who spelt it correct, and the joy in getting his word right was highly evident as he went through a rough ride in the early rounds. When Lanka spelt "Tonsillitis" incorrect, the pressure was on Ummesalama, to do it right and stay in the competition, but unfortunately she misspelled her word as well.
Last week we saw Indeevarie Gunathilaka from St.Agnes' Balika Maha Vidyalaya Ratnapura and Chrishari De Alwis from Good Shepherd Convent Kandy bowing out of the competition. This week with Lanka Kumarasinghe of Swarnapali Balika Maha Vidyalaya Anuradhapura and Ummesalama Hussain of Burhani Serendib School Colombo bowing out sixteen of the top 20 had now been found for next week's competition.
Tune into Sirasa TV every Saturday from 6 pm - 7 pm to witness who will be eliminated next and watch the remaining 16 fight it out to remain in the competition till the Spellmaster is selected.
The following are the names of the Top 16:
P.Manudhya Wickramasekara Hillwood College Kandy
Ramachandran Delaxshan Highlands College Hatton
K.R.Althaf St.Anthony's College (Boys') Kandy
R.M.W.Jeewantha Bandara Maliyadeva College Kurunegala
K.Fathima Rustha Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai
Rukshala Vidumini Illukkumbura Gateway College Colombo
Chathushka Rambukwella Trinity College Kandy
Rashidah Hassan Good Shepherd Convent Kandy
Nardhya Grero Lyceum International School Nugegoda
A.R.Fathima Shafana Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai
R.A.Wasana Sevwandi Southlands College Galle
Sarith Ruwan Bandara Trinity College Kandy
Murtaza Zohair Burhani Serendib School Colombo
J.Archana Perera St.Peter's College Colombo
Kushani Kodippili Hettiarachchi H/Tangalle Balika Vidyalaya
Sivapalan Chelvaniththilan St.Patrick's College
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