KARACHI, Dec 10: Michael McKenna of Australia was crowned the World Youth Scrabble Champion here at Birmingham on Sunday after a day of fluctuating fortunes.

This was McKenna’s final appearance at the World Youth Scrabble Championship as he’ll be over aged for the next edition.

Cheong Yi Wei of Malaysia was the runner up. According to information received here, the Pakistani players paid the price for peaking a bit too early in the competition. After dominating for most part of the championship the top three Pakistani players stumbled on the final day.

Javeria Salman and Mohammad Inshal by contrast had a great day finishing 14th and 17th in the championship. Jahanzaib, Javeria Mirza and Yash Gandhi finished 21st, 23rd and 24th, respectively. Javeria Mirza won the trophy for the highest single move score for her word SHUNTERS.

Pakistan team finished third overall which is an improvement from last year.

Team leader Tariq Pervez was very pleased with the overall performance of his team as five of the players finished in the top half.

“This shows that every member of the team performed well instead of depending on a few players,” he said. The team returns on the early morning of Dec 13.