Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old Indian-American from Tampa, Florida, won the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee title in a dramatic tiebreaker against Faizan Zaki on Friday (May 31).

Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old Indian-American from Tampa, Florida, won the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee title in a dramatic tiebreaker against Faizan Zaki on Friday (May 31). Soma, whose parents are from the south Indian state of Telangana, spelt 29 words correctly in the tiebreaker, beating Zaki by nine, to win the title on Thursday night. Scripps said Soma’s winning word was “abseil." He will receive a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Soma, a seventh-grader, had earlier won three consecutive spelling bees. The tiebreaker Thursday's competition began with eight finalists. There were frequent lengthy commercial breaks that allowed the finalists to mill about at the side of the stage, chatting with their coaches, relatives and supporters. During the tiebreaker round, Bruhat went first, and after he got through 30 words, it appeared it would be impossible to beat him. The report said that Zaki's pace was more uneven at the outset. He attempted 25 words but flubbed four of them. 'Really happy I won this' Reacting to his victory, Bruhat said that his main goal was always to win. “It didn’t matter if I won all those other bees. This is what I was aiming for. So I’m just really happy that I won this,” he added. Previously, the Tampa resident won the Words of Wisdom bee hosted by Scott Remer. He also won the SpellPundit bee organised by that study guide company. And he won the first-ever online bee emceed by Dev, last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. Soma's last loss The Associated Press report said that Soma's last loss was in September 2023 at the WishWin senior spelling bee where he misspelt “Gloucester.” Following this, Soma said that he just went on a winning streak. (With inputs from agencies)

Indian-American boy Bruhat Soma wins National Spelling Bee with winning word ‘abseil’

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Indian-American boy Bruhat Soma wins National Spelling Bee with winning word ‘abseil’