ISLAMABAD:A six-member team has been selected to feature in the WESPA Youth Cup (formerly known as World Youth Scrabble Championship) to be played from August 7 to 22 and hosted by the Pakistan Scrabble Association.
“The team includes Hasham Hadi Khan, Ali Salman, Usman Shaukat, Syed Imaad Ali, Affan Salman and Ahmed Salman,” Tariq Pervez, Director, Pakistan Scrabble Association told reporter.
He said Hasham won the qualifying tournament held in Karachi for the selection of team Pakistan at the WESPA Youth Cup scrabble championship.
“The tournament was held in two stages with over 60 top youth players participating. In the first leg 50 players fought it out for a place in the grand finale. Top ten players from the first leg qualified for the final round where they were joined by ten players that have previously participated in international tournaments.
“The final qualifying round was a grueling 19 game tournament on round robin league basis played over two days. The 16 year old “veteran” Hasham Hadi emerged as the only player that remained unbeaten throughout the tournament. Hasham won all his 19 games with an impressive spread of 2288.
He said the vastly improved Ali Salman wasn’t far behind winning 17 games and had a spread of 1441. “Mr. consistent Usman Shaukat finished 3rd with 15 wins and a spread of 1519.
Pakistan’s no. 1 youth player and former world youth champion Imaad Ali was visibly rusty after a long layoff from scrabble. Imaad finished 4th with 13 wins and a spread of 1665.”
Tariq said one of the highlights of the tournament was the performance of Salman brothers. Affan Salman was hugely impressive and beat several senior and experienced players to clinch the 5th position and a place in the Pakistan team. No less impressive was the little Ahmed Salman who at just 9 years of age clinched the six place and qualified for the Pakistan team joining his elder brothers Ali and Affan.
This is the second instance since the Hadi brothers that the Pakistan team consisted of three brothers,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that Pakistan has been granted the rights to hold the WESPA Youth Cup (formerly known as World Youth Scrabble Championship) for the second year running. Pakistan offered to host the 2020 edition online for the first time with the help of technology to make sure that every player was monitored and the games were played as fairly as in real life events.
World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) the regulatory body of scrabble granted the hosting rights to Pakistan and the first ever virtual championship was played in 2020.
It turned out to be a huge success and the organizational skills of Pakistan Scrabble Association were praised all over the world. This year once again the honor of organizing the second virtual youth world championship was bestowed upon Pakistan and the tournament.
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