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INDIAN SCRABBLE
– AN OVERVIEW
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Zygo
Scrabble Clubs introduced the game of Scrabble in all the
metros and other cities. Conducted the first, second, third
and fourth National Championship for seniors. Secured two
seats for India for the first time for World Scrabble Championship
1999 (WSC). Nominated players for WSC |
The
response from the adults is not very encouraging. We don’t
want to go into the reasons for the same. With children, it
is different and fascinating. With every game, they are blossoming.
With every passing year, adults are withering and dithering.
We are told that we are the first in the World to conduct
a National Championship for school children in a format of
‘One – on – one’. When India was holding the 4th National
Championship for school children, USA took the first ginger
baby steps towards the first Nationals for school children.
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The
school circuit is exhilarating. From school to school, city
to city and town to town, we have been meeting children with
reservoirs of talent and oodles of enthusiasm. Children gave
us a wakeup call. Scrabble deservers children. Children deserve
Scrabble. We are benefited by the advice and support of parents,
schools, teachers and good Samaritans. The Nationals for children,
held on the same days of every year – 27th Dec to 30th Dec
(4 days) is the most exiting event for us. Now the Nationals
include Scrabble related exercises such as unjumble, and anagrams,
language test, comprehension, public speaking and speltz.
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We
have taken a conscious decision to focus on children. We have
been investing our time and meagre resources in meeting children
across India. We are certain that these children will get
the ranks, honors and more seats for India in the WSC. Like
any other sport, Scrabble too deserves children. They need
to be nurtured, encouraged and exposed to a higher standard
of the game. The National Champions in the school circuit
speak for themselves and for us with their performance. We
are privileged to meet these children: |
Year
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National |
Name |
2000 |
1st
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Anand
(Chennai) |
2001
|
2nd |
Souparno
Ghosh (Kolkata) |
2002 |
3rd |
Shashank
Kumar (Mumbai) |
2003 |
4th |
Chanakya
(Secunderabad) |
2004
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5th
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Abhimanyu
Das (Kolkata) |
2005
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6th |
Sarayu
(Mumbai) |
2006
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7th
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Srikar
(Mysore) |
2007 |
8th
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Srikar
(Mysore) |
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Some
more children of talent and promise are: Purav Damani, Sachin
Shah, Shreya, Vyoma, Warren Remedios all from Mumabi, Udayan
Grover of Pune, Nishita, Nikitha, Esha, Aneesh all from Hyderabad,
Ramkumar, Aditya, Tejas, Shashank, Shubha, Shyam Sundar, Anand
Rao, Rohan Jai Shankar, Sabarita all from Chennai. These children
are beloved. |
SENIORS
SCENARIO: For the WSC 2007 held in Mumbai,
India (host country) was given two additional seats. Mohan
Chunkath (MC), Ranganathan Chakravarty (RC) (both of Chennai)
and Varist Hingorani (VH) and Sherwyn Rodriguez (18 year old)
of Mumbai got 81st, 88th , 48th and 70th ranks respectively.
There was nothing to go lyrical about their performance. But
their selection does warrant introspection and a course of
action for the future. Akshay Bhandarkar of Mumbai got the
8th rank in the 1997 WSC. He was 17 year old and played for
UAE. His mother Mrs. Mangala Bhandarkar started the first
Scrabble Club in Bahrain. In the 2007 WSC, Akshay got the
5th rank playing for UAE. For the 2009 WSC, UAE may get extra
seats due to the excellent showing by Akshay. |
Unlike
the Gulf circuit, the Indian domestic circuit of seniors is
not well participated nor well fought out. One reason for
the adults shying away from competitive Scrabble is the emergence
of children handing out drubbing to the adults. MC, RC and
VH did not qualify for India for the WSCs 2003 and 2005. MC’s
ranking has been plummeting – 21st in WSC 1999 to 59 in WSC
2001 to a miserable 80 in WSC 2007. RC’s journey is consistently
tragic. From the 81st rank in WSC 2001 to 88th in WSC 2007.
Varist has played for the fist time. The way children are
shaping up, it is certain that it is curtains for most of
the seniors. We do feel that the extra seats offered to India
being the host country of WSC 2007 could have been filled
up by children we have cited above. That could have been a
better investment for the future. There is a possibility that
India may loose one seat because of the dismal showing in
the WSC 2007. |
Zygo
Scrabble Clubs will endeavour for a competitive interaction
among the children for a promising future for Indian Scrabble |
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