Abbasi defeated Australia’s Tim Mason 490-437 in the last round to finish with 13 wins from 16 rounds to win the youth event. PHOTO COURTESY: PSA
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Abdullah Abbasi clinched the Causeway Scrabble Challenge youth event in Johor Bahru, Malaysia yesterday.
He defeated Australia’s Tim Mason 490-437 in the last round to finish the tournament with 13 wins and a spread of 1,079. Singapore’s Leon Tan Zheng finished second with 12 wins and a spread of 1,103, while another Singaporean Poh Ying Ming secured third place with 11 wins and a spread of 695.
The 16-year-old, runner-up at the 2015 World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC), meanwhile, was happy to lift a trophy after enduring a torrid outing at this year’s WYSC in France, where he finished 20th.
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“I just had to win to regain my lost pride,” Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “Now I have won something; the title is more important for me than the trophy or the prize-money. I didn’t have a good run at the WYSC in France, so I had to win to regain my confidence.”
Unlike the WYSC where the age limit for the players is 18, the Causeway Scrabble Challenge allowed players till the age of 21 to compete in the youth event. Having older players could cause some competitors to feel overwhelmed but that was not the case for Abbasi.
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“I’ll say the competition level was pretty much the same. The pool was smaller but it was great because we had some older players. I feel it pushed me to do better,” said Abbasi.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2016.
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