King’s Cup Scrabble Championship: Waseem ends campaign on a high

National champion finishes in 21st place with +584 points.

KARACHI: Four-time national champion Waseem Khatri finished among the top 25 players at the 28th King’s Cup Scrabble Championship 2013, which concluded in Bangkok yesterday.

Five Pakistani players finished among the top half at the four-day championship that featured 99 players from around the world.

Waseem had a slow start to the championship with 44 being the highest rank he could achieve in the first two days. However, the 23-year-old picked up his game on the third and final day and finished in 21st position. He won three out of his five games yesterday and finished the event with 17 wins, 12 defeats and +584 points in 29 rounds.



Muhammad Inayatuallah, who won the Division II title at the Penang Scrabble Championship last week, finished his campaign in 27th position with 16 wins and 13 defeats.

Teenager Javeria Mirza could only manage a 36th-place finish, while Arham Abidi and Mariam Arif secured 46th and 49th places respectively.

Yash Gandhi, Abdullah Abbasi and Mirza registered gains of more than 200 points each. Mariam won the Team Unity prize.

Meanwhile, world champion New Zealand’s Nigel Richards won the title for the third time and bagged a prize money of $10,000.

PSA satisfied with performance

According to the Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) Vice President Jawaid Iqbal, the team performed well and were able impress the best players in the world. “Our players did really well,” Iqbal told The Express Tribune. “Waseem took his time but then defeated the defending champion.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2013.

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