KARACHI: Former youth world champion Moiz Baig won the qualifying tournament for the Junior World Scrabble Championship held at BVS Parsi High School on Sunday.

Top 110 youth players in the country participated in the three-day tournament for selection in the Pakistan team for the Junior World Scrabble Championships being held at Nottingham, England in August.

The players were divided in two groups. The ‘A’ division comprised of players that have previously participated in the youth world championships while the division ‘B’ included new players picked from the Inter School tournament held in January.

Moiz was clearly ahead of compatriots winning the ‘A’ division handsomely by winning 18 of the 24 matches and had a spread of 1,698. Abdullah Abbasi was the runner-up with 15 wins and a spread of 1,283 while Daniyal Sanaullah was third with 14.5 wins and a spread of negative 330.

The ‘B’ division was dominated by players from Happy Home School who have the privilege of being coached by Pakistan’s No 1 Waseem Khatri. The school bagged five of the top 10 slots for the junior world championship.

The ‘B’ division was won by Saim Waqar with 18 wins and a spread of 1,892 while Basil Ali Khan was the runner up with 17 wins and a spread of 1,343. Hamza Naeem finished third with 17 wins and a spread of 1,122.

Pakistan are favorites to win the junior world championship this year.

Squads:

DIVISION ‘A’: Moiz Ullah Baig, Ahmed Abdullah Abbasi, Daniyal Sanaullah, Hammad Hadi Khan, Hasham Hadi Khan, Ahmed Salik, Ahad Riaz, Sohaib Sanaullah, Mirza Taha Hasan, Hassan Hadi Khan.

DIVISION ‘B’: Saim Waqar, Basil Ali Khan, Hamza Naeem, M. Mustafa Altaf, Mauzammil Bin Asim, Umer Naeem, M. Usman Shaukat, Samir Mustafa, Salha Khatri, Abdul Mateen.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017