Click to play videoWashington DC: Indian-American children have dominated the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship in the US, winning five titles in the last eight years. This year, two Indian kids did even better, grabbing both the title and the second place.
Thirteen-year-old Sameer Mishra can spell words that most people have never heard of.
After surviving 15 grueling rounds filled with some the toughest words in the dictionary, the Eighth Grader from Indiana nabbed the word ‘guerdon' which means a reward to claim the title of America's top speller in Washington DC. The champion credits his sister, a former Bee contestant for the win.
“She really told me what to study, she gave me schedules and pushed me all the way and I need to probably need to thank her a lot for this,” Sameer says.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship began in 1925 with only 25 students. But with growing international interest, its popularity has soared with a record 11-million contestants this year.
Almost three hundred spellers from around the world qualified for the competition in the country’s capital. Of those only 12, including five Indian-American kids, made it to the finals
One of them is 12-year old Sidharth Chand. The Seventh grader stumbled on the word 'prosopopoeia' and had to settle for second place.
“As soon as Dr Bailey pronounced the word, I had the wrong spelling in my mind so I thought it was the right one, but it wasn't. There was a 'I' in the middle so I forgot about that. But I'm happy with what I've done so far,” Sidharth Chand says.
Naresh Chand, Sidharth’s father, is obviously proud of his son’s achievement.
"Whatever word came, I did not know those but I was waiting for that bell to ring and it hits pretty hard. But I'm very proud of him. He came so far." He says.
Of the hundreds of words selected by the judges for this year's spelling bee, a few Hindi words including 'Bulbul' and 'Satyagrah’ also made it into the competition.
The winner of the National Spelling Bee Championship goes home with more than $ 30,000 in prize money and gifts, while others will collect cash prizes ranging from $ 50 to $ 12,000.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
