Tough fights and luck played a part in the Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Pahang legs of the RHB-New Straits Times Junior Spell-It-Right Challenge, writes NURJEHAN MOHAMED.

SHE cut a diminutive and quiet figure among the other contestants at the Perlis RHB-New Straits Times Junior Spell-It-Right (SIR) Challenge, but once onstage the shyness slipped away as Nur’ain Shahirah Zamri confidently tackled the words that were given to her — correctly for the most part.

Her confidence was obvious as the Year 2 pupil coolly tackled words such as “public”, “engine” and “fragment” in the preliminary rounds.

And though she had never watched the movie, she was familiar with her winning word, “enchanted”, as she had seen the trailer several times.

For Nur’ain, victory was that much sweeter as she had wanted to participate in the senior challenge when she was old enough, and had joined the junior version by chance.
At the Malacca competition, meanwhile, shy nine-year-old Reuben John Abraham shone among the 20-odd contestants.

The Year 3 pupil from SK St Francis had also entered the competition by chance. His interest in Junior SIR was sparked when he attended the senior competition just the week before.

Reuben had a strong competitor in his twin sister Ruth Elizabeth from SK Convent Infant Jesus 2, but after she stumbled on “enrolment”, the road was open for him to take the championship.

In Seremban, Ernest Lee Wen Er fought six gruelling tie-breaker rounds with S. Kaysern Kumar before emerging as the state champion.

They ploughed through words such as “gobble”, “reunite", “voltage”, “original”, “derailed”, “hatchback”, “heartache” and “handshake” before Kaysern stumbled on “execute” and Ernest conquered with “glacier”.

The competitors in Pahang proved to be a sporting lot, smiling or laughing gamely even when they got their words wrong.

It was clear who would emerge as the top spellers from the start, as Nevyn Vinosh Venudran battled it out with Lim Jian Hui, besting his opponent by getting the word “menthol” correct.

The RHB-NST Junior SIR will be heading for Kedah and Kuala Lumpur next Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome. For details, look in the NST.