Lathikka Niriella Sri Lanka's top Quizzer Kevin Ashman the new Quiz Champion of the World!
Lathikka Niriella re-established his position as the best Sri Lankan Quiz player when he became the top scorer among Sri Lankan quizzers who competed with the rest of the world in the 14th Annual World Quizzing Championships, conducted by IQA, Sri Lanka at the Distance Learning Centre at SLIDA building - on Saturday 4th June.
England’s Kevin Ashman has regained his crown as World Quizzing Champion! He achieved a huge score of 171 (out of a possible 210), beating his nearest rival, last year’s champion Olav Bjortomt by four clear points, having competed with 2520 Quizzers in 45 countries. Second and third places were snatched by two other English players, and previous winners, Olav Bjortomt and Kevin’s Eggheads colleague, Pat Gibson.
For the fourth successive year Haren Fernando, was placed 2nd best in Sri Lanka while first –time contestant Walter Hall was placed third. In 4th place was Shirantha de Alwis while Dilantha Gunawardena was placed 5th ranked.
Hasini Minuwanpitiya emerged as the top female quizzer in Sri Lanka. Hasini and Nipunika Wijayaratne were the top two female quizzers.
The World Quizzing Championships, is an individual Quiz competition, conducted by the International Quizzing Association (IQA), the world’s premier Quiz organization, headquartered in UK. This year it was conducted at 125 venues and according to IQA all you need to compete in this event “is a thirst for knowledge, a hunger for a challenge and a pen!”
It was notable that several very young quizzers in Sri Lanka took part in the contest for the first time this year, in addition to the regulars, thus establishing the growing enthusiasm for quizzing in the country.
IQA Sri Lanka is pleased that they have been able to provide an opportunity for Sri Lankan quizzers to take part in this prestigious event, continuously during the last 10 years. The winners from Sri Lanka From left to right; Ruwan Senanayake , IQA Country Representative, M. Shabir – Principal Sponsor , Anchor Group of Companies , Lathikke Niriella ( Winner-Sri Lanka edition) , Haren Fernando (first runner-up) , Hasini Minuwanpitiya ( best female quizzer) and Walter Hall (second runner-up) The Quiz in Progress