Pakistan reach Virtual Scrabble World Cup quarter-finals

LAHORE: Pakistan has qualified for the quarter-finals of the COCO Virtual Scrabble World Cup, the first of its kind organised and directed by Evans Clinchy of USA.

The tournament has 16 teams consisting of five players each that were divided in four pools, said a press release issued here. Coming as the underdogs and placed in the toughest group Pakistan sprung a major surprise thumping all three of its opponents: Nigeria 14-11, Australia 16-9 and South Africa 16-9. In the quarter-finals they will play against either India or England.

In spite of fielding the youngest team in the world cup, Pakistan has the highest number of individual wins among all sixteen countries as well as the highest spread of 1352 at this stage.

Pakistan’s top individual performers so far are 14-year-old Imaad Ali with 11 wins and a spread of +769, and Hassan Hadi Khan with 10 wins and a spread of +945.

Waseem Khatri, Moiz Ullah Baig and Sohaib Sanaullah also contributed to the team’s formidable performance.

The current team standings are: GROUP A: 1- India, 2-Thailand, 3-Malaysia, 4-United Kingdom.

GROUP B: 1- Pakistan, 2-Nigeria, 3-Australia, 4-South Africa.

GROUP C: 1-Canada, 2-Singapore, 3-Kenya, 4-Ghana.

GROUP D: 1-USA, 2-Ireland, 3-Philippines, 4-New Zealand.

The top ten individual players so far are Hubert Wee - Singapore, Syed Imaad Ali - Pakistan, Evan Berofsky - Canada, Will Anderson - US, Hassan Hadi Khan - Pakistan, Kevin McMahon - Ireland, Austin Shin - US, Napat Vatjaranurathorn - Thailand, Jesse Matthews - Canada, Blue Thorogood - New Zealand.