DUBAI // The country's Under-16 Scrabble champion retained his crown at the World Youth Championship at the weekend.
Navya Zaveri, 15, a pupil at the Indian High School, also retained his fourth place spot from last year, with fellow UAE resident Sanchit Kapoor, 13, claiming sixth place.
About 140 children between the ages of 7 and 17 from more than 20 countries took part in the three-day competition in Dubai, the first time the event has been held in the UAE.
“I’m really happy to get fourth place and have my hard work pay off,” Navya said. “It’s been a tough championship. As the numbers of competitors grow, so has the standard.”
The number of youngsters taking part more than doubled from last year, when 60 children competed in Birmingham, England.
Uganda and the Maldives fielded entries for the first time this year in the contest, held at the Etisalat Academy in Al Muhaisnah.
Navya’s last match was against Pakistan’s Moizuallah Baig, 16, who went on to take first place, a Dh3,750 cash prize and a tablet computer.
Nikhil Soneja, the UAE team coach and one of the event’s organisers, said: “We never expected this year to be so big. It’s bigger than the last two years combined.”
He said hosting the event was also a great achievement for the country.
“We are so proud to be hosting this event when we’ve only been fielding competitors for the last three years,” he said.
“The game is becoming much more popular in the UAE which has really helped encourage people to compete.”
Team UAE had 16 new competitors this year.
Navya – whose favourite word is “metazoan”, a multicellular animal of the subkingdom Metazoa – was in 80th place when he first competed three years ago.
“I’ve progressed over the last year but the competition got much tougher and more talent has come through,” he said.
Sanchit, a student at Gems Modern Academy, agreed. “It’s been much tougher this year than last,” he said.
He was delighted to have made it into the final.
“It’s really an honour to finish top 10,” said the schoolboy, whose favourite word is “zyzzyva”, a tiny weevil smaller than an ant.
Navya agreed. “Reaching the top 10 is the pinnacle of youth scrabble.”
About 1,500 games and 24 rounds were played over the three days, which proved just as stressful for the competitors’ parents.
Jyoti Zaveri, Navya’s mother, has been at the contest every day supporting her son.
“It’s been a very tough competition and he’s had to work very hard,” she said. “It’s been such a big competition compared to previous years which has been the toughest challenge.
“More children are getting exposure and the kids are very well prepared. The top games are the equivalent to the adult games.”
Navya, who won 17 of his 24 games, began playing the board game at 9, after playing chess. He soon found he had a penchant for words.
Karen Richards, chairwoman of the youth committee of the World English-language Scrabble Players’ Association, said the UAE’s talent was“fantastic”.
Since she first came to the country three years ago, she has seen dramatic change. “They’ve improved so much in a year,” she said.
mswan@thenational.ae
