4TH ASIA SPELLING CUP: Wan Wei, Anna emerge tops in respective categories
COMING fresh off the RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right (SIR) Challenge 2016, two Malaysian siblings Ng Wan Wei, 14 and his sister, Anna Ng, 12, emerged tops in their respective categories at the 4th Asia Spelling Cup held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.
Wan Wei, who was the SIR 2016 national champion for secondary school category, went through 18 rounds before spelling the word “schipperke” correctly to be announced the winner, beating his opponent, Cheng Chi, from China, who spelled “gnathonic” incorrectly.
Anna battled seven rounds in the primary level, beating Pitiprapa Tanawattanaku, 11, from Thailand. Her winning word was “salmonella”.
Another Malaysian spelling team member, Michelle Ong, 16, won the third place for the secondary level.
Both champions took home US$2,000 (RM8,680) each.
More than 50 primary and secondary school students from Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Thailand battled to claim Asia’s “Best Speller” title.
Ten finalists representing Malaysia were chosen in partnership with the NST.
Wan Wei and Anna are familiar faces of the SIR Challenge, which was introduced in Malaysia nine years ago.
Wan Wei started his spelling journey when he won third place at the national level last year. The SMK St Francis student said the SIR Challenge was a good platform to practise for the Asia Spelling Cup and his preparation paid off in the end.
“I spent a few hours every day after school learning different words from the dictionary. I am glad that my sister and I won. Our dad will be the happiest person. I intend to come back next year.”
Anna, who won the second place in the SIR 2016 primary school-level category, said: “I really enjoyed the competition. I am happy to share my winning with my family and friends.
“I, too, prepared for the competition by learning words from the dictionary. I read and listed down words from classic books, which is a good way to learn new words,” said the pupil of SK Convent Infant Jesus 2, Malacca.
Qooco chief executive officer David Topolewski, the organiser of Asia Spelling Cup, said: “This has been yet another successful competition. This year, we have doubled the number of finalists and we saw an improvement in the Thai and Chinese students’ performances. Many of the words we gave them were long and tricky yet, they spelt them correctly.”
The SIR Challenge is the most well-known spelling competition in Malaysia, with more than 23,000 students from across the country competing to win the “Malaysia’s Best Speller” title.
Twenty-eight primary and secondary best spellers competed in the National SIR Challenge last month.