KARACHI: Pakistan players made an almost clean sweep of trophies at the Junior World Scrabble Championship that ended in Nottingham on Monday.

The only major trophy eluding the Pakistan players was the most precious one: the Junior World Champion title, which was won by Matthew O’Conner of the US, who finished with a 20-4 record and was by far the best player of the tournament. O’Connor maintained his lead throughout and was praised by all and sundry.

According to the information received here, former world youth champion Moiz Baig finished as runner-up with 18 wins and a spread of 1,037. Daniel Henriques of Trinidad was third with 16 wins and a spread of 1,352.

Sohaib Sanaullah, Imaad Ali, Ahad Riaz, Joshua Castellano (US), Abdullah Abbasi and Saim Waqar made the rest of the top 10. There were no less than seven Pakistan players in the top 10 positions.

Other title winners from Pakistan in various categories were: Ahad Riaz (U-18), Sohaib Sanaullah (U-16), Hamza Naeem (U-14), Imaad Ali (U-12) and Monis Khan (U-10).

Monis and Imaad retained their titles, which they had won last year in France.

Sindh Sports Minister Sardar Mohammad Bux Mahar, who flew out to witness the championship, praised and congratulated the Pakistan players on their excellent performance.

The World Scrabble Championship starts on Wednesday at the same venue. Waseem Khatri, Pakistan’s ace scrabble player, joined the team on Monday and will be the country’s main hope at the championship.

Brett Smitheram of England will be defending his title.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017