Faizan Zaki almost lost control of his zeal for spelling. Ultimately, his upbeat demeanour won him the Scripps National Spelling Bee title. After finishing second in a traditional spelling round last year, when he never misspelt a word, the favourite going into the bee lost a lightning-round tiebreaker he hadn’t practised for. The shaggy-haired, with a casual glee, Faizan sported a black sweatshirt as he strolled to the microphone, easily bearing the weight of expectations.
The 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, appeared to be a champion in waiting during Thursday night’s finals. Then he almost tossed it. However, he could claim the title of finest speller in the English language despite a startling moment of arrogance.
Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane missed consecutive words when the bee was down to three spellers, leaving Faizan two words from winning. The first was “commelina,” but Faizan let his showman impulses to take over rather than checking his knowledge with the necessary questions (definition, language of origin). K-A-M,” he said before halting. “All right, I’ll do this. Shoot, eh! He instructed Chief Judge Mary Brooks to ring the bell, and she complied.
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