Comment on National Spelling Bee ends in its unlikeliest tie to date

National Spelling Bee ends in its unlikeliest tie to date

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — If not for his high-pitched voice, there would be no way to peg Nihar Janga as the youngest-ever winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. At his best, Nihar turned the tables on bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly by shouting out the definitions of his words as soon as they were announced. Jairam, whose dad takes him to play golf when he's had enough spelling practice, channeled his favorite player, Jordan Spieth. "When he hits a bad shot, he always bounces back, on the next shot or the next hole," Jairam said. The words were as tricked-up as ever. Because the best spellers become fluent in Latin and Greek roots, the bee went to words from languages with less infiltration into English, including Afrikaans, Danish, Irish Gaelic, Maori and Mayan. Jairam's winning word was Feldenkrais, which is derived from a trademark and means a system of body movements intended to ease tension. [...] he never expected to win. [...] most of the crowd's attention was on an even younger speller: 6-year-old Akash Vukoti. Nihar and Jairam's parents are immigrants from south India, continuing a remarkable run of success for Indian-American spellers that began in 1999 with Nupur Lala's victory, which was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."

 

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