Royal College trio excel at World Youth Scrabble Championship

Aabid Ismail, Qays Sangani and Janul de Silva, of Royal College, Colombo, were placed 3rd, 8th and 11th respectively, at the 11th World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) held in Lille, France, from August 27-29.

It is an achievement for the Royal College Scrabble Club, which, since its initiation in 1994, has produced many players who have not only excelled at national level but also, matched international standards.

Royalists, unbeaten to date, in the 2016 national tournaments, were the favourites of the Sri Lanka team to excel in this flagship global event for young players aged 9-17.

Aabid Ismail won 17 rounds out of 24, with a tremendous margin of +1124, to finish 2nd Runner-up against contestants from 15 countries. At one stage, Aabid was poised for the championship, but 3 consecutive defeats in 3 close games, in the last 4 rounds, relegated him to 3rd place, allowing UAE's Sanchit Kapoor to clinch the title. However, Aabid won his last round against USA's Kevin Bowerman. He emerged Under16 World Champion this year.

In his second appearance at the WYSC, 14-year-old Qays Sangani was ranked 8th, winning 16 rounds, with a margin of +491. In his last round, he beat Thailand's Sarawit Chucharoen with a margin of +64.

Sri Lanka Scrabble Champion Janul de Silva was placed 11th at the end of Day-3.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to France, Tilak Ranaviraja felicitated the team at the embassy premises. Earlier this week, the Royal College Scrabblers were felicitated in school by the Scrabble Club. Afterwards, they were congratulated by the Principal, B.A. Abeyaratne, Senior Games Masters, S. Liyanagunawardhana, and M.A.M. Riyaz , Senior Teacherin-charge Mrs. Inosha De Silva and past and present officials of the Club. Special thanks to the Royal College Scrabble Team Coach- Mrs.Shaila Amalean.