2018 Junior World Scrabble Championship: Green Jr’s Dominate; Occupy Top 3 Positions

ENGLAND: The Shangrila Pakistan team was off to a rollicking start at the Junior World Scrabble Championship which kicked off at Torquay, England.

As expected the boys in green dominated the proceedings on the opening day with some sterling performances. At the close of play on day-one each of the top three positions was secured by the Pakistan boys.

Pakistan’s ace Moiz Ullah Baig shot into an early lead winning the first four matches. Moiz suffered a huge loss against Jason Yin of Hong Kong which displaced him from the top slot briefly but Moiz recovered swiftly and reclaimed the No. 1 spot.

Moiz ended day-one of the championship with 6 wins out of 7 matches played today and maintained a spread of 830.

Former national champion Sohaib Sanaullah was also in fine form winning 6 of his 7 matches today with his only loss coming at the hand of compatriot Moiz. Sohaib ended day one on the second spot with 6 wins and a spread of 810.

Hammad Hadi Khan completed Pakistan’s dominance on day one by finishing on the 3rd spot with 5 wins and a spread of 682

The defending champion Matthew O’Connor of USA found the going much tougher this time as he lost two of the 7 matches today finishing 4th on day one after losing a closely fought match with Taha Mirza of Pakistan.

Hassan Hadi who was the only unbeaten player after 5 games lost his next two to finish 7th.

11 year old Monis Khan started the day with a huge win in the first game found the going tougher as the tournament progresses. Monis’ score of 684 against Moisey Joshua of England remained the highest match score of the tournament so far.

Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by the chairman of District Council Mr. Ian Doggett which was followed by a cake cutting ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Scrabble. The local Member of Parliament Mr. Kevin Foster joined the festivities by playing exhibition matches with the former world Scrabble Champion Brett Smitheram of England.

Another nine matches will be played on the second day and 8 more on the final day.

Junior World Scrabble Championship – List of registered players

Full Name – Country – Rating

  1. Matthew O’Connor – USA – 1801
  2. Moiz Ullah Baig – Pakistan – 1741
  3. Sohaib Sanaullah – Pakistan – 1550
  4. Hammad Hadi Khan – Pakistan – 1544
  5. Hassan Hadi Khan – Pakistan – 1480
  6. Wolfram (Ying Ming) Poh – USA – 1469
  7. Hasham Hadi Khan – Pakistan – 1441
  8. Jason Wai Yin Tsang – Hong Kong – 1408
  9. Daniyal Sanaullah – Pakistan – 1308
  10. Syed Imaad Ali – Pakistan -1273
  11. Mirza Taha Hassan – Pakistan – 1263
  12. Sumbul Siddiqui – UK – 1133
  13. Absar Mustajab – Pakistan – 1102
  14. Dustin Brown – USA – 976
  15. Monis Hussain Khan – Pakistan – 953
  16. Muhammad Saim Waqar – Pakistan – 938
  17. Basil Ali Kham – Pakistan – 871
  18. Muhammad Hamza Naeem – Pakistan – 863
  19. Muhammad Umar Naeem – Pakistan – 841
  20. Oluwapese Alo – Nigeria – 669
  21. Muhammad Misbah Ur Rehman- Pakistan – 646
  22. Ernest Yat Long So – Hong Kong – 610
  23. Muhammad Mazammil Bin Asim – Pakistan – 605
  24. Warnasuriya Patabendige Inuri Supuni Amaya De Silva – Qatar – 578
  25. Andra Diana Sandu- Romania – 499
  26. Fatima Siddique – Pakistan – 474
  27. Ana Delia Diac – Romania – 470
  28. Zaina Inas Zarook – Qatar – 463
  29. Daniel Lawal – Nigeria – 442
  30. Fortune Ezennia – Nigeria – 383
  31. Janindu Winuth Chintaka De Silva – Qatar – 379
  32. Cristian Dimitrie Caba – Romania – 362
  33. Sadeera Thevni De Silva Warnasooriya Patabendige – Qatar- 300
  34. Angela Osaigbovo – Nigeria – 300
  35. John Muti – Kenya
  36. David Ampah Baiden – Ghana
  37. Deborah Asirifi – Ghana
  38. Elkanah Boadi – Ghana
  39. Evans Tetteh – Ghana
  40. Lydia Egyiri – Ghana
  41. Samuel Obeng – Ghana
  42. Wai Yan Oo – Myanmar
  43. Adegboyega Odunaiya – Nigeria
  44. Jasmine Lawal – Nigeria
  45. Kesiena Great Akpobasah – Nigeria
  46. Priscilla Akhabue – Nigeria
  47. Seliat Odunaiya – Nigeria
  48. Duaa Ilyas – Pakistan
  49. Wisha Naeem – Pakistan
  50. Krishanthan Sarvesh – Qatar
  51. Krishanthan Vidyesh – Qatar
  52. Reuben Moisey – UK
  53. Joshua Moisey – UK
  54. William Raichura – UK

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