Two Indian-Americans jointly win ’Spelling Bee’

Mangalore Today News Network

Washington, May 31, 2014:  Like last year, the last three contestants were Indian Americans—Sriram, Ansun and Gokul Venkatachalam from Missouri. This is the seventh consecutive year that Indian-Americans have retained the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which was watched live by millions of people.

Co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Ansun Sujoe (L) of Fort Worth, Texas and Sriram Hathwar (R) of Painted Post, New York, hold up their trophy, at National Harbor, Maryland. They are the first co-champions in 52 years.

 

An eighth-grader from the Alternative School for Maths and Science, Sriram  J Hathwar (14) is from New York, while Ansun Sujoe (13) is a seventh-grader from Texas.

Both Sriram and Ansun received a $30,000 cash prize, an engraved trophy and other gifts. Together they scripted history on May 30,2014, by becoming co-champions of the famed Scripps National Spelling Bee after a tense final, in which they almost exhausted the 25 designated words to end the duel in a tie for the first time in 52 years.

This is the first time the bee has ended in a tie since 1962, said organisers. The Bee has previously had co-champions in 1962, 1957 and 1950 in its 89-year history.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Sriram soon after being declared the co-champion with Ansun. “I was happy when I entered the final. I am even happier that I am the co-champion,” said Ansun, who in the last 22nd round correctly spelled “feuilleton”, which is defined as “a part of a European newspaper or magazine devoted to material designed to entertain the general reader”.

Indian-origin people remain unchallenged in the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2008, with Sameer Mishra winning it in 2008, Kavya Shivashankar in 2009, Anamika Veeramani in 2010, Sukanya Roy in 2011, Snigdha Nandipati in 2012 and Arvind Mahankali in 2013.