Thailand win international online youth scrabble championship

KARACHI: Thailand defeated Pakistan to clinch the first international online youth scrabble championship titled ‘Gladiators WESPA Youth Cup 2020’ on Sunday. They won 21 games against Pakistan’s 15.

Sri Lanka, who lost to Pakistan in the semifinals, finished third.

Thai player Napat Vajaranurthorn was declared ‘the player of the tournament’.

Pakistan hosted this championship which had commenced on January 22. There were 96 players from 16 countries in this event.

Pakistan squad comprised Syed Imaad Ali, Hasham Hadi Khan, Monis Hussain Khan, Ali Salman, Usman Shaukat and Ali Wasif.

The tournament was held at the Pharmevo guest house in Karachi where special arrangements were made, including a playing room, a commentary box and a control room equipped with high-speed internet and online monitoring equipment.

All the games were surveilled by the technical team through webcams.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Tariq Pervez, Director Youth Programme of the Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) congratulated Thai players for winning the tournament and also lauded Pakistani squad for their efforts.

He said it was an honour for Pakistan that the global regulatory body of scrabble, World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA), selected Pakistan as the host for the championship.

Managing Director Pharmevo Haroon Qasim said they supported Pakistan Scrabble Association in holding the online championship as part of their dream to create a healthy society.

Deputy CEO of the Pharmevo Limited Syed Jamshaid Ahmed said they would continue to support such healthy activities and lauded the performance of Pakistani youth during the tournament.

The virtual championship was supervised by a team of highly qualified experts led by the Technical Director Vali Muhammad Khubaib while young Hassan Hadi Khan was the Tournament Director chosen by WESPA.