Scrabble: Lankan juniors runners-up at World Youth Championships

The Sri Lankan youth team fought off fierce competition from Thailand and Pakistan counterparts to emerge victorious at the 11th World Youth Scrabble Championships (WYSC) held in Lille, France from August 27 to 29. 

Thavalakshman Yoganathan of Lyceum International School Wattala produced the best ever performance by a Sri Lankan scrabbler at the World Youth Championships to emerge first runner-up, narrowly edging out team mate Aabid Ismail of Royal College. 

Thava who was participating in his fourth WYSC, is the holder of the Sri Lankan School Scrabbler of the Year title. 

Aabid, the winner of the Astar Under-15 title in Malaysia continued his good form emerging the World Under-16 champion in addition to emerging as the overall second runner-up. 

He also shared the honours for the Highest Word Award at the championship by playing the word “obedient” for 158 points. 

Qays Sangani of Royal College playing in the WYSC for the second time, marched into the top ten by securing the eighth place. 

Qays’ performance contributed immensely to the Sri Lankan team win. 

Hansi Weerasuriya of Museaus College shared the honours for the Highest Word Award with Aabid and Sohaib Sanaullah of Pakistan by playing the word “filament” also for 158 points. 

Vignesh Pirapaharan of Lyceum International School Panadura, two-time winner of the Sri Lanka Under-13 title, was desperately unlucky not to enter the top 10 despite a fantastic performance up to the 19th round of the championship. 

Janul de Silva of Royal College narrowly missed out on reaching the top 10 and had to be content with the 11th place due to a last round loss. 

The rest of the Sri Lankan team contributed to the team win by securing important victories against strong opponents from other countries. 

The other team members were Danusha Muhandiramge (Lyceum International School Nugegoda), Migara Jayasinghe (Lyceum International School Wattala), Thirandi de Silva (Ladies College), Radinka Dissanayake (Bishops College) and Hayati Rassool (Ladies College). 
The championship attracted 107 participants from 15 countries and was organised by the World English Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) in collaboration with Mind Sports International. Sanchith Kapoor of UAE won the 24-round championship despite the stiff competition. 

The top 10 players were as follows: 
Sanchith Kapoor (UAE) 
Thavalakshman Yoganathan (Sri Lanka) 
Aabid Ismail (Sri Lanka) 
Siriwat Suttapintu (Thailand) 
Aditya Iyengar (India) 
Jack Durand (England) 
Hasham Hadi Khan (Pakistan) 
Qays Sangani (Sri Lanka) 
Kevin Bowerman (USA) 
Syed Imaad Ali (Pakistan)