KARACHI: The group stage of the Pharmevo WESPA Youth Cup (World Youth Scrabble Championship) concluded at the Pharmevo house in Karachi, being managed by Pakistan.

Two players from Pakistan qualified for the finals after battling through grueling 36 games spread over two weekends.

Noah Slatkoff of Canada ended the group stages on top with 29 wins and a spread of 3499. Napat Vatjaranurathorn of Thailand was second with 28 wins and a spread of 3130. Pakistan’s Syed Imaad Ali is third with 27 wins and a spread of 2616.

Hasham Hadi Khan is the other Pakistani to qualify for the finals with 26 wins and a spread of 1948.

Two more Pakistan players, Ali Salman and Usman Shaukat, remained in the top ten till the last round but were desperately unlucky to miss out narrowly after losing their last games.

The top ten players included two each from Pakistan, Thailand and India and one each from Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and Sri Lanka.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2021