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9 out of 11 finalists at 2021 Spelling Bee Finals were Indian-Americans
Zalia Avant-garde also became the first African-American to win America's most prestigious spelling competition.
Zalia Avant-garde (Source: Yahoo)
For the first time in the history of the Scripts National Spell Bee competition in America, a girl of African American descent has stood first. Fourteen year old Zalia Avant-garde took home the honours after an intense final with her final word spelt being "Murraya". The competition was held in the ESPN Sports Complex in Florida, Orlando.
Another major record that was broken was that no Indian American won the Competition for the first time after a 12 year streak. There were a total of 11 finalists out of which 9 were Indian American children and the expected norm every year was that the trend of them winning it would continue.
The finalists were Roy Seligman, Bhavana Madini, Sreethan Gajula, Ashritha Gandhari, Avani joshi, Vivinsha Veduru, Dhroov Bharathia, Akshainie Kamma, Vihaan Sibbal, Chaitra Thummalla, Zaila Avant-Garde.
Apart from her amazing spelling skills, Zalia is an ace basketball player and hopes to play in the WNBA one day. She also holds three Guiness Records to her name. Each of them are for basketball with records being for the most number of basketball juggles, most bounces and simultaneous dribbles of 6 balls at the same time.
Definitely a talented individual who has surpassed one of the toughest national events in America where children are known to rote learn dictionaries and word books in order to come out on top. Competition has increased as well with the organisers using unique ways of making making the event tougher. Also in attendance was Jill Biden, First Lady and wife of President Joe Biden.
