Pakistan’s Syed Imaad Ali wins World Youth Scrabble Championship

Pakistan’s Syed Imaad Ali won the World Youth Scrabble Championship in Karachi on Sunday, reported Dawn.

The 15-year-old player defeated his opponent in nine out of 13 games in Sunday’s finals as Pakistan finished first in the tournament, with Hasham Hadi Khan — another Pakistani — to qualify for the final with 26 wins, coming in fourth after winning in seven games.

Two more Pakistani players, Ali Salman and Usman Shaukat, remained in the top 10 till the last round of the championship’s group stage but were unlucky to miss out narrowly after losing their last games.

Syed Imaad Ali opened up an early lead in the tournament and had soared to the top position with 11 wins and one tie by the completion of the first 12 rounds.

After this success, he is now the first and only scrabble player to win the World Youth title twice. He previously won the 2018 championship in Dubai, clinched the Junior World Scrabble Championship in Torquay, England, in November 2019, and was also the youngest player to do so.

Pakistan was awarded the rights to hold the World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) Youth Cup for the second year running.

The championship has been played annually since 2006 in different parts of the world but could not be played after 2019 due to the pandemic outbreak.