KARACHI, Dec 14: Young Moizullah Baig kept his cool and warded off a stiff challenge from 136 youth players to win the Eighth World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) in Dubai on Saturday. Javeria Mirza, also of Pakistan, was the runner up.
Moiz created history by becoming the first Pakistani player to win a world scrabble championship. He is also the first player ever to win the WYSC in his very first appearance at this level.
According to the information received here, Moiz playing his first ever world championship was in great form throughout the championship and never let his lead slip away. After reaching top spot, he stayed at number one till the very end.
Pakistan dominated the championship right from the beginning. This is also the first occasion that the top two positions were won by players from the same country.
Pakistan’s Mohammad Inshal, the early favourite to win this year, faltered at the last moment and defeats in his last two matches pushed him to the 14th spot.
Fifteen-year-old Maryam Arif grabbed the eighth position. Javeria Salman was 15th, Hamza Sheikh 16th, Mirza Tayyab 18th and Yash Gandhi finished 19th.
Pakistan also won the trophy for the number one team as no other team came near Pakistan in terms of overall performance.
If day one of the championship had belonged to Pakistan, day two began with Pakistan, continued with Pakistan and ended with no less than six of the top positions held by Pakistani players.
No other country had ever dominated the WYSC in such a way. This performance is even more remarkable considering that Pakistan started to participate in the WYSC from 2010 only.
Mohammad Inshal who ended day one on the first position fell to fatigue as he has been playing high intensity scrabble for over a week. Several defeats pushed him to the 27th position before he regrouped himself and came roaring back with some strong performances. Inshal ended day two in sixth position.
But the hero of the day two was undoubtedly Moiz who took the baton from Inshal and kept the Pakistani flag aloft after taking the number one position at the end of round 11.