Indian Americans are back to giving a tough fight in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. America's national prestige, this competition has been dominated in the past 20 years by Indian Americans. This year too, nine out of the eleven finalists are Indian-Americans.
A 28 June statement by the organisers revealed the finalists who would compete for the trophy on 8 July which will be telecasted on ESPN Worldwide. The competition will be held in the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando.
The 11 finalists are Roy Seligman, 12, from Nassau, The Bahamas; Bhavana Madini, 13, from New York; Sreethan Gajula, 14, from Charlotte, North Carolina; Ashrita Gandhari, 14, from Leesburg, Virginia; Avani Joshi, 13, from Illinois; Zaila Avant-garde, 14, from New Orleans; Vivinsha Veduru, 10, from Texas; Dhroov Bharatia, 12, from Dallas; Vihaan Sibal, 12, from Texas; Akshainie Kamma, 13, from Texas and Chaitra Thummala, 12, from San Francisco, the PTI reported.
In the last Spelling Bee, in 2019, eight students emerged winners out of which seven were Indian Americans. Till 2019, students were evaluated individually. However, this year there might be a spell-off round in case something like a non-conclusive event occurs.
The 2020 Spelling Bee was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fuelling more excitement for this year's Bee owing to its virtual format, new rounds of spell-off and other methods of reaching a conclusive result.
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