PHOTO: FILE
Jawed Shamim came second with a spread of +518 from seven games while Muhammad Inshal Shahbaz, who was also part of the youth squad in Birmingham, secured third position with seven games and a spread total of +389.
Khatri now looks forward to representing the country in the Asian Championship in Thailand in July. Even though he has been a national champion for four years now, he feels that upcoming tournaments will pose a bigger challenge for him compared to the senior players at these events.
“It’s getting tougher to maintain my top ranking now,” Khatri told The Express Tribune. “Moizullah Baig, the youth player gave me the toughest time. I won against him with only a difference of 15 points. But apart from that, the main goal is to participate in international tournaments, even though that is a bit problematic as funding is still an issue for us.”
Khatri began his scrabble career at the age of 14 and hails from a humble family in Kharadar. He has been an inspiration to younger players such as Javeria Mirza Inshal and even Baig, who study at prestigious schools unlike Khatri.
“It feels good to be an inspiration to these children, because I had started out only because I wanted to improve my English.”
With the national championship expected in June, Khatri is hoping to progress well at the Asian Championship and is eager to finish among the top five players there.
“I’ll be playing the local tournaments because that’s where I started from, and I will keep learning more. But I really want to represent the country abroad. Thailand is the hub of scrabble in Asia, I hope I can make a mark there,” said Khatri.
The Asian championship will take place in Bangkok from July 13, which gives Khatri four months to prepare for it and find sponsors for the trip.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2013.
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