25 Indian-Americans made it to semi-finals of Scripps National Spelling Bee

Washington, May 28: Twenty five Indian-American children have been named among 49 semi-finalists of the prestigious annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, media reported on Thursday.

Those selected would contest for top positions in the final of 88th Scripps National Spelling Bee scheduled for Friday.

For several years now, Indian-Americans have set challenges to their competitors and won most of the prestigious spelling awards in the US.

Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, from St Louis, Missouri, who finished third in 2014, is considered favourite this year.
Sriram Hathwar, 12, and Ansun Sujoe were the joint winners in 2014.

Making her fifth appearance to the Spelling Bee, 13-year-old Vanya Shivashankar from Kansas is another frontrunner.
Ms. Shivashankar previously competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2010, 2012 (tied for 10th place), 2013 (tied for 5th place) and 2014 (tied for 13th place). Her elder sister, Kavya, won the 2009 championship.

The National Spelling Bee started in 1925 with nine contestants. This year the winner will get a cash prize of about $35,000.

OneIndia News (With inputs from agency)