World Youth Scrabble Championships


The first World Youth Scrabble Championships were held in Wollongong, Australia 2006. Competitors from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, England, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and United States have competed in the annual tournament so far. WYSC is open to anyone under the age of 18 on 1 January of the year of each tournament.
The tournament used to be held at the start of December but was brought forward to August for 2014. So far the WYSC tournament has been held in Malaysia five times, Australia twice, Dubai twice and the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom once each.
Malaysia is scheduled to host the 2019 championship.

WESPA Youth Cup 2019 : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It is scheduled to be held from Nov 29 to Dec 1, 2019, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

WESPA Youth Cup 2018 : Dubai

Tournament report can be found .
List of all prize winners can be found .
PlacePlayerCountry
1stSyed Imaad AliPakistan
2ndJanul de SilvaSri Lanka
3rdNapat VatjaranurathornThailand
4thAabid IsmailSri Lanka
5thSohaib SanaullahPakistan
6thBrian PoHong Kong
7thTarin PairorThailand
8thVraj JainIndia
9thThomson Law Long YinHong Kong
10thRadinka DissanayakeSri Lanka

WESPA Youth Cup 2017 : Subang Jaya, Malaysia

The 2017 edition was renamed as "WESPA Youth Cup". Originally scheduled to be held in Johor Baru, it was later moved to Subang Jaya. Aabid Ismail from Sri Lanka was crowned the World Youth Scrabble Champion 2018.
PlacePlayerCountry
1stAabid IsmailSri Lanka
2ndJanul de SilvaSri Lanka
3rdAbdullah AbbasiPakistan
4thHasham Hadi KhanPakistan
5thSohaib SanaulahPakistan
6thNititorn LaimekThailand
7thDanial SanaullaPakistan
8thVignesh PirapaharanSri Lanka
9thNapat VatjaranurathoThailand
10thPansub DirekwatanaThailand

Aabid Ismail became the first Sri Lankan World Youth Scrabble Champion. Second place went to Aabid's schoolmate Janul de Silva who also won the under 16 World Scrabble title which was previously held by Aabid. Abdullah Abbasi who was runner up in 2015 secured third place. Sri Lanka secured the team title for the third year in succession on the strength of Aabid and Janul's performances along with that of Vignesh Pirapaharan who secured eighth place. Adheesha Dissanayake also of Sri Lanka won the under ten title. The under twelve title was secured by Napat Narinsuksanti, the under fourteen title by Hasham Hadi Khan and the under eight title by Madhav Gopal Kamath.
All the first ten places were filled by players from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand. This year two special awards were given out, the Amnuay award went to Akkarapol Kwhansak an official from Thailand and the WESPA Chair award to Abdullah Abbasi.

WYSC 2016 : Lille, France

In 2016, the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association Youth Committee cooperated with the Mindsports Academy to organise the Championship in Lille, France. Sanchit Kapoor from the United Arab Emirates was crowned the World Youth Scrabble Champion 2016.
PlacePlayerCountry
1stSanchit KapoorUnited Arab Emirates
2ndThavalakshman YoganathanSri Lanka
3rdAabid IsmailSri Lanka
4thSiriwat SuttapintuThailand
5thAditya IyengarIndia
6thJack DurandUnited Kingdom
7thHasham Hadi KhanPakistan
8thQays SanganiSri Lanka
9thKevin BowermanUnited States
10thSyed Imaad AliPakistan

Sri Lanka retained the team title they won in Perth Australia. The high game award went to Okiki Hector Fowobaje of Nigeria for scoring 653 points. The high word award was shared between three players Shohaib Sanaullah, Hansi Weerasooriya and Aabid Ismail all of whom scored 158 points for BASCINET, FILAMENT, OBEDIENT respectively.
Aabid Ismail, Hasham Hadi Khan, Syed Imaad Ali and Monis Khan emerged as World 16 Scrabble Champion, the World Under 14 Scrabble Champion, the World Under 12 Scrabble Champion and the World Under 10 Scrabble Champion respectively. Thus Pakistan secured three of the four age group prizes on offer.
For the first time in the tournament's history, there were no contestants from the host country.

WYSC 2015 : Perth Australia

The tenth edition of the WYSC was held in Perth, Australia from 31 October at the University of Western Australia. Nicholas Hong of Singapore emerged as the overall winner while Sri Lanka won the team title. By virtue of winning the WYSC, Hong qualified to take part in the WESPA Championships held after WYSC 2015.
PlacePlayerCountry
1stNicholas HongSingapore
2ndAbdullah AbbasiPakistan
3rdJack DurandEngland
4thJanul De SilvaSri Lanka
5thTim MasonAustralia
6thThirandi De SilvaSri Lanka
7thSanchit KapoorUnited Arab Emirates
8thLambotharan YoganathanSri Lanka
9thJohn McNaughtonNew Zealand
10thSamrath Singh BhatiaIndia

The defending champion Jack Durand secured 3rd place.

WYSC 2014 : Colombo, Sri Lanka

Based on the scores of the top three from that country, Singapore emerged as the best team.
Although the tournament is usually held in December, it was held in August in 2014 to coincide with the Colombo Scrabble Festival. The festival began with the Sri Lanka International Scrabble Championship on 22 August while the WYSC took place on the 29th. In between, the WESPA Seniors' tournament was held on the 26th. Since both the WYSC and the WESPA Seniors event had a side tournament, participants had the opportunity to take part in three consecutive international tournaments at the same venue.
Jack Durand emerged as the winner of WYSC 2014 at the end of Round 23.

WYSC 2013 : Dubai

of Pakistan became the World Youth Scabble Champion while compatriot Javeria Mirza secured the second place. Maria Arif also from Pakistan secured 8th place and ensured that Pakistan won the award for the best team as well. Players from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore were conspicuously missing from the top ten. There has been at least one player from these countries in the top ten in past events.

WYSC 2012 : Birmingham, England

PlacePlayerCountry
1stMichael McKennaAustralia
2ndCheong Yi WeiMalaysia
3rdWilliam KangMalaysia
4thNavya ZaveriUAE
5thYeshan JayasuriyaSri Lanka
6thYasiru FernandoSri Lanka
7thTim ByrantUnited States
8thSompong PhosaiThailand
9thJessica PratesiUnited Kingdom
10thSinatarn PattanasuwannaThailand

WYSC 2012 took place at the UK Britannia Hotel in Birmingham, England from Friday, December 7 to Sunday, December 9. There are expected to be 99 entries in 2012 making it the most populous WYSC event yet but only 60 managed to get there mostly due to visa problems. Michael McKenna sealed his victory at the tournament with a game to spare- he won game 23 to lead of 1.5 wins going into the final round. This win now means that Australia is home to more WYSC than any other nation. Australia has three, Malaysia has two and Singapore and Thailand have one apiece.
Michael McKenna has also attended six out of the seven WYSC events. Past WYSC events have held trivia tournaments, however, 2012 held a warmup tournament. Navya Zaveri of the UAE won the Under 16 title and Migara Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka the Under 14 title. The youngest ever WYSC player Ronnie Bennet won the under 8 title. The under 10 and under 12 titles were secured by Pese Alo and Shrinidi Prakash.
High Word went to Javeria Mirza, SHUNTERS
High Game went to Sinatarn Pattanasuwanna for 640.

WYSC 2011 : Johor Baru, Malaysia

PlacePlayerCountry
1stAnand BharadwajAustralia
2ndVictor GweeSingapore
3rdMichael McKennaAustralia
4thYeshan JayasuriyaSri Lanka
5thPremkumar NimalanSri Lanka
6thOliver GarnerUnited Kingdom
7thSinatarn PattanasuwannaThailand
8thMohd Bin Abdul SumaPhilippines
9thJessica PratesiUnited Kingdom
10thSomphong PhosaiThailand

WYSC 2011 took place in the same location as 2007 and 2009: The Zon Regency Hotel, Malaysia. This year produced the youngest ever WYSC champion, Anand Bharadwaj who was a mere 11 years old at the time. In the process Australia became the second country to have had a representative win WYSC more than once the other country being Malaysia. Michael McKenna placed 3rd, making it his second 3rd placing in his years at WYSC. Jessica Pratesi placed in 9th position for the second year running, Mohd Suma retained his 8th position from 2010. Anand also stayed in the first position for longer than any other player, leading the tournament for eleven rounds. 2011 was the first year that there were no competitors who had played in every single WYSC. The pre-WYSC trivia tournament that ran in 2009 and 2010 did not run in 2011.

WYSC 2010 : Manila, Philippines

PlacePlayerCountry
1stKer Jen HoMalaysia
2ndPreedee KhongthanaraThailand
3rdWilliam KangMalaysia
4thOluwafemi AkinlosotuNigeria
5thKitty-Jean LaginhaAustralia
6thTawan PaepolsiriThailand
7thVinnith RamamurtiMalaysia
8thMohd Bin Abdul SumaPhilippines
9thJessica PratesiEngland
10thLooi Yih FengMalaysia

Ker Jen Ho of Malaysia became the second player from Malaysia to win the championship. Compatriot William Kang became second runner up and under 16 champion. Malaysia had four players in the top 10 while Cheong Yi Hua also of Malaysia, finished in 19th position and received the encouragement award for her well-above-expectation result. Irwin Goh of Malaysia received the Paulette Yeoh Award for his strong behind-the-scenes helping of the tournament. The pre-tournament trivia competition ran again in 2010 and the winning team was "SAM GUN" which consisted of Kim Rubina, Arvinran Rajendran and Shahroz Zamir.
Victor Gwee of Singapore became the Under 14 World Scrabble Champion while Migara Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka and Jessie Hannah David of Qatar became the under 12 and under 10 champions respectively.
This was the first WYSC to have more than 1 female finish in the top ten Kitty-Jean Laginha and Jessica Pratesi. Jessica also shared the high word award with Pranva Kaarthik. Host country the Philippines had a player in the top ten for the first time.. 4 ladies made it to play at Table 1 during the tournament. They were: Sirinapa Srinornil, Natasha Podesser, Kitty-Jean Laginha and Jessica Pratesi. This the first time more than one female had played on table 1 with the exclusion of Game 1.
Finally, Natasha Podesser of Australia was the only player to have played in all 4 previous WYSC tournaments. However, being 17 years old, she will be too old to compete in any further WYSC's. Oluwafemi Akinlosotu of Nigeria held the lead of the tournament for the first thirteen games.

WYSC 2009 : Johor Baru, Malaysia

PlacePlayerCountry
1stSuanne OngMalaysia
2ndAlastair RichardsAustralia
3rdMichael McKennaAustralia
4thPreedee KhongthanaraThailand
5thCharnrit KhongthanaThailand
6thOluwaseun OyelekeNigeria
7thWong Zhi YuanSingapore
8thWanchana JirapitikulThailand
9thGoutham JayaramanSingapore
10thCharas WorapotpisutThailand

The 2009 WYSC was held in the Zon Regency Hotel, Johor Bahru as part of the Iskandar Malaysia World Festival of Scrabble. Unlike previous years of WYSC which featured 22 games over 3 days and a best out of 5 playoffs; the 2009 WYSC was a 24-game tournament held over 3 days without any final play-off. The World Youth Scrabble Championships of 2009 was held from Tuesday, December 8 to Thursday, December 10. 2009 WYSC had a record number of entrants of over 80. Members of the Malaysian monarchy were present for the prize giving ceremony. The Princess of Malaysia personally congratulated each of the prize winners.
Suanne Ong of Malaysia became the first girl to win the World Youth Scrabble Championship. As at 2017, she remains the only girl to have held the title.

WYSC 2008 : Georgetown, Malaysia

PlacePlayerCountry
1stCharnrit KhongthanaratThailand
2ndDarren Khoo Beng WayMalaysia
3rdScott ChungMalaysia
4thRamaraj SundrarajMalaysia
5thSuanne OngMalaysia
6thMohsin AhmedIndia
7thWanchana JirapitikulThailand
8thSamitha AmarasingheSri Lanka
9thAlastair RichardsAustralia
10thAkaradech SuppapittaThailand

WYSC 2008 took place in Georgetown Penang, Malaysia

WYSC 2007 : Johor Baru, Malaysia

PlacePlayerCountry
1stToh WeibinSingapore
2ndSean Chung Chin ShiuMalaysia
3rdOng SuanneMalaysia
4thLiew Kian BoonSingapore
5thPasit NatearphaThailand
6thBenjamin ChowSingapore
7thIan Tay Zhi XianMalaysia
8thCharas WorrapotpisutThailand
9thLee Guan HuiSingapore
10thImron SawamipakThailand

The 2007 WYSC took place on December 4–6, 2007 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Inaugural WYSC (2006) : Wollongong, Australia

David Eldar of Australia became the first World Youth Scrabble Champion when he won the inaugural event that look place at Wollongong University, Wollongong, Australia in 2006.