Indo-Americans to give tough fight in Spelling Bee contest

Washington, June 1 (UNI) Forty-six students, including Indian Americans made it to the final round of the 79th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee contest, which will be held later tonight.

The students entered the final round after correctly spelling words such as vaudevillian, imperceptible and megalopolis in the preliminaries.

The contest for 139 boys and 136 girls began yesterday in the Independent Ballroom at the Grand Hyatt here as friends, relatives and teachers cheered them on.

The contestants qualified for the first round by winning contests in all 50 states, Canada, the Bahamas, Europe, Guam, Jamaica, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The spellers filled the big stage and took turns at the microphone to spell words announced by Jacques Bailly, an associate professor at the University of Vermont and the 1980 national champion, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.

The contestants were allowed to ask him to repeat the words, use the words in sentences, provide definitions and the words' etymology. One such competitor, who asked these questions was Indian American seventh grader, Maheen Rana (12) from Vista Middle School in Red Bluff, California, competing in her second national bee.

She correctly spelled the word hyphaeresis -- which means the omission of a sound, letter or syllable from a word -- and walked back to her seat with a smile.

Most spellers listened carefully, pronounced the word, asked questions and then spelled it correctly. Some used their forefingers to write the letters on their wrists or the back of placards that hung from their necks.

For the first time this year, the championship rounds will be nationally broadcast live by ABC at 0800 hrs (local time). The winner will receive more than 42,000 dollars in cash and prizes.

The Louisville Courier-Journal started the bee in 1925. The EW Howard Scripps Co, a media conglomerate, assumed sponsorship in 1941.

UNI XC DKS KP1832