Ekansh Arora wins National School Scrabble Championship 2022

Scrabble is arguably one of the most favourite word games in the world, and India holds a record of performing well in World Scrabble Championships. The grand finale on 5 November 2022 was the culmination of a two-month competition wherein 12000 students participated from across the country. After three online qualifiers and eight offline zonals in the cities of Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi, the final was held at Shiv Nadar School, Gurugram where 32 finalists from the zonals gathered to compete for the title of the champion.

There was a tie for the top spot between Ekansh and Devansh, and a face-off decided the winner when Ekansh made the higher scoring word 'FEZ' from the same rack of tiles given to both the participants.

Aditi Ravichandar, Head of Marketing, Mattel India, said, "It's been an absolute privilege to see the enthusiastic participation from all over the country for the 2022 School Scrabble Championship - a big thank you to all the schools and participants for bringing their energy and passion to the tournament. A huge congratulations to all the winners from across the zones, and a special shout out to our Top 3. We look forward to seeing what this young generation of players continue to achieve as they take the game and their skills ahead."

Sudhir Kamath, Tournament Director for the School Scrabble Championship and former President of the Scrabble Association of India, spoke about the opportunities ahead for all the participants. He said, "The Scrabble Association of India (SAI) has been really impressed by the calibre of the participants that we have seen across the zonals and finals. We are delighted to offer SAI's annual membership to all the 32 finalists (for free). We also invite them to take part in the upcoming Asia Cup Youth Scrabble Championship being held from 25-27 November 2022, where they will get a chance to compete with a tough field including the top 3 youth Scrabble players in the world."

Ananth Padmanabhan, Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers India, congratulated the students and emphasized on the importance of words. He said, "We encourage children to learn new words and create their own stories. As a Publisher of books that span entertainment and education, it was delightful to see children use their cognitive skills and make great words in all the rounds. With 32 of the brightest Scrabble players already setting the bar high, the tie breaker to decide the champion was very exciting and particularly special! It's a privilege to host tournaments that not only expand a child's vocabulary, but also boost their concentration and build confidence."

Mattel is a leading global toy company and owner of one of the strongest portfolios of children's and family entertainment franchises in the world. Their mission is to create innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain, and develop children through play. Scrabble is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned by Mattel throughout the world, except in the U.S.A. and Canada where it is a trademark of Hasbro Inc.

Scrabble Association of India (SAI) is the apex body that coordinates Scrabble tournaments in India, maintains player ratings, interacts with overseas Scrabble organisations as the country representative and selects players to represent India in international tournaments. Some of the other objectives of SAI are promotion of the game of Scrabble, developing a tournament circuit, enhancing the quality of Scrabble players at all levels. Visit www.indianscrabble.com for the latest information on Scrabble tournaments.

Collins Learning has a rich history of publishing educational and informative books for over 200 years and has maintained an impressive record in creating market-leading products across various sectors. As the educational publishing division of HarperCollins Publishers, Collins Learning strives to promote holistic development of children of all ages.

As one of the fastest growing companies in the K12 segment in India, our educational publishing continues to deliver up-to-date and engaging student resources and exceptional teacher support to help schools tackle new initiatives and utilise the latest technology. Visit www.collins.in to view the complete list of Collins resources.

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