National player Khatri aims to make a mark

Scrabble contingent leaves for World Championship.

KARACHI:

National champion Waseem Khatri said he was looking forward to securing a position among the top players at the World Scrabble Championship as the team left for Prague, Czech Republic on Saturday.

The squad also includes Tariq Pervez, Muhammand Inayatullah and 16-year-old Muhammad Inshal; all three will represent Pakistan for the first time in the event.

The three-day competition will begin on December 4 and Khatri believes that he has enough time to polish his skill further in the days leading up to the championship.

“I want to finish the seniors’ tournament among the top 10 players,” Khatri told The Express Tribune. “The last few days were very stressful for me. I had missed last year’s championship due to visa problems and was apprehensive about it this time around.

“But now I can relax and make up for lost time by practicing while travelling. I have been using software to train and our plan is to keep playing against each other without a break to ensure a good performance in Prague.”

Pervez, who is also vice-president of the PSA, said he would be supporting Khatri.

“He is the best player we have in the seniors’ category,” said Pervez. “We have a teenage player, Inshal, so I’m hoping that the World Championship experience will help him as well.

“We’ll stop in Dubai on our way back for the World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) where 18 Pakistani players are competing this time and Inshal will compete there too.”

Pervez added that he was excited about the future prospects and had great hope about the WYSC squad.

Pakistan competed in the WYSC last year as well, where they finished among the top teams in England.

“Pakistan are among the favourite teams at the WYSC this time, so the pressure is there. But we have very talented players and hopefully at least four to five players have the potential to win the championship.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2013.

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