Nine among the 11 finalists for this year’s US Spelling Bee contest are Indian-Americans. This is reflecting the dominance of young children from the small ethnic group, have had on this prestigious and high-pressure endurance test for more than decades now.
The finalists of US Spelling Bee 2021 would compete with each other for the champion title on July 8 during the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals.
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Dr J Michael Durnil, Executive Director of the Bee said, “We are honored to introduce our 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finalists. Round after round, this group of spellers proved their mettle, and we look forward to seeing them show off their knowledge and hard work as they square off against the dictionary on the national stage.
Congratulations to all of this year's 209 national qualifiers - they've persevered over a year that has been challenging in many ways, and our team is proud to have witnessed their journey.”
The released statement by Bee, said, during the in-person finals an option would be provided to the Bee that it may activate a spell-off if needed. This spell-off would be activated during the end time of the competition if a champion is not decided in a traditional, one-person, one-word round.
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The 11 finalists are Roy Seligman (12-year-old from the Bahamas), Bhavana Madini (13-year-old from New York), Sreethan Gajula (14-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina), Ashrita Gandhari (14-year-old from Leesburg, Virginia), Avani Joshi (13-year-old from Illinois), Zaila Avant-garde (14-year-old from New Orleans), Vivinsha Veduru (10-year-old from Texas), Dhroov Bharatia (12-year-old from Dallas), Vihaan Sibal (12-year-old from Texas), Akshainie Kamma (13-year-old from Texas) and Chaitra Thummala (12-year-old from San Francisco).
The final rounds of this year’s contest would be hosted in-person at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida and people would be able to enjoy the final on the ESPN2.
For the past 20 years, Indian-Americans have been dominating the Spelling Bee contest even they comprise only nearly 1 percent of the US population.
Last year, due to the coronavirus pandemic the Bee was canceled. But in the year 2019, the total number of finalists was eight, out of which seven were Indian-Americans, which took the tally of Indian-Americans to 26.
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