Indian-American wins US spelling contest for fifth year running

Indian Americans continued to demonstrate their spelling prowess when Snigdha Nandipati, a 14-year-old girl, correctly spelled “guetapens”, French word for ambush, to win the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee crown.

She thus retained the coveted national honour for the community, that has been steadily growing in profile and influence, for the fifth straight year.

“It’s a miracle,” said Snigdha Nandipati from San Diego, California, as she pipped fellow Indian American Stuti Mishra, 14, of West Melbourne, Florida who stumbled over “schwarmerei”, German for extravagant enthusiasm, in the last round of the final at a convention centre outside Washington Thursday night.

Nandipati plays violin and is fluent in Telugu. She is the fifth consecutive Indian-American winner and 10th in the last 14 years.

The Indian-American community’s victory run began in 1999 when Nupur Lala captured the crown and was later featured in the documentary “Spellbound”.

With Arvind Mahankali, 12, of Bayside Hills, New York, a finalist for the last two years, the three Indian American kids were the top spellers left in the last round from among the nine who made the finals Thursday.

Breezily confident through the first two semifinal rounds, Shivashankar was flummoxed by “pejerrey“, a small fish. She went with “perjere“.

Another Indian American fifth-time competitor, Rahul Malayappan, also did not make the finals.

(IANS)