Nervousness, tension, anticipation, relief, joy, a few of the emotions experienced by the 12 contestants from Jaffna, Kalmunai, Colombo, Kandy and Tangalle fighting to stay in the competition, and grab the title of Spellmaster.
Spellmaster is an all island school spelling competition organized by CIMA with Sirasa TV that is sponsored by Imperial College of Business Studies and Britannia biscuits, that started off with 2000 students from 400 schools in contention and now reaching the final rounds where last Saturday the top twelve spellers have emerged.
As in the previous two competitions the competitors were put through 2 rounds of words. The first round consisted of letters of the alphabet except of course the letters 'X', 'Y' and 'Z' as they had a limited number of words and each letter had a choice of 5 words. In the second round of words the spellers were given the opportunity to select a word from a pool of 50 words.
With the competition having gotten to a crucial point, competitors have now taken the dictionary to be part of their day to day chores. Contestant number 12, Fathima Shafana from Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai said reading the dictionary is now her hobby. When it came to her turn to spell in the 1st round, she chose the letter "O" and her word was "Obbligato", she knew the word and also knew that there were two spellings to it. Archana Perera from St.Peter's College who is known to have a good voice when asked to sing before his round of spelling said he will do so if he wins and went on to impress the judges by completing the definition of the word he was given "Quinine" while the judge read it out. This just proved how much interest and preparations was going into the competition.
Fathima Rustha from Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai, Rukshala Illukkumbura from Gateway College Colombo, Fathima Shafana from Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai, Sarith Bandara from Trinity College Kandy and Archana Perera from St.Peter's College Colombo got both words right automatically qualifying them to the next stage of the competition. Sarith, who misspelt a word given to him last week breaking his record of getting all words given to him correct ever since the competition started in Kandy, when asked about last week's miss said "it was bound to happen". The remaining seven contestants all got at least one word correct and had to go through another round of words. Rashidah Hassan from Good Shepherd Convent Kandy, Nardhya Grero from Lyceum International School Nugegoda, Kushani Kodippili Hettiarachchi from H/Tangalle Balika Vidyalaya and Sivapalan Chelvaniththilan from St.Patrick's College Jaffna got the words given to them right, qualifying them.
It was then left for 3 spellers Manudhya from HIllwood College Kandy, Althaf from St.Anthony's College (Boys') Kandy and Wasana from Southlands College Galle to battle it out for the one remaining spot. Speaking on last week's competition when asked, contestant No 1, Manudhya said it was a daunting experience going up against Jeewantha and Murtaza and didn't think she could beat them and said she "hopes and prays she doesn't have to bow out". For her luck, Manudhya got the word "Fulcrum" and spelt it accurately. Althaf's word was "Epistolary", which he unfortunately misspelled with an "e" at the end rather than an "a". The pressure was on Wasana, who received the word "Caesium", and being a science student she spelt the word correct.
With 2 spellers remaining they had to go to a "Best of 3" round, where both contestants were at a tie, Manudhya and Wasana both got two words right. As a result, whoever got the next word correct would be safe and the other would have to bow. Manudhya got the word "Croquette" and spelt it spot on. Wasana's word was "Schism", unfortunately she spelt the word "Schizm", using an "z" instead of an "s" at the latter part of the word.
On their defeat, Althaf said it was important to accept victory or defeat and he happily accepts his defeat. Wasana said she never paid attention to the pronunciation of words nor was she attentive to spellings, this all changed as she progressed in the competition, and continued to say the competition reduced her stage fear a bit.
The battle of the 10 spellers for the top 4 slots in the finals could be seen on Sirasa TV every Saturday from 6 pm - 7 pm.
The following are the names of the 10 remaining spellers' from the Top 20:
Manudhya Wickramasekara Hillwood College Kandy
Fathima Rustha Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai
Rukshala Illukkumbura Gateway College Colombo
Rashidah Hassan Good Shepherd Convent Kandy
Nardhya Grero Lyceum International School Nugegoda
Fathima Shafana Mahmud Ladies' College Kalmunai
Sarith Bandara Trinity College Kandy
Archana Perera St.Peter's College Colombo
Kushani Kodippili Hettiarachchi H/Tangalle Balika Vidyalaya
Sivapalan Chelvaniththilan St.Patrick's College |
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