Team India Finishes Second At 2026 World Youth Scrabble Championship
· Free Press Journal
India’s 11-member contingent produced an impressive performance to finish as the second-best team at the 2026 World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) in Nairobi, which concluded on 9th August. A team of six boys and five girls represented at the WYSC, which is the premier international youth Scrabble tournament for under-18 players, held annually by the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA).
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The Indian contingent for the WYSC comprised defending champion Madhav Gopal Kamath (aged 15, from Delhi), Suyash Manchali (16, Bengaluru), Samarth Manchali (12, Bengaluru), Ishika Poddar (17, Mumbai), Vihaan Singhvi (15, Jaipur), Ahana Goyal (16, Delhi), Anika Dalwani (16, Mumbai), Suhaas Khandelwal (14, Bengaluru), Khanak Singhvi (11, Jaipur), Aria Kapadia (13, Mumbai), and Shreyas Khandelwal (10, Bengaluru). The squad was managed and mentored by Neeta Bhatia.
Team India achieved the second place in the team rankings, thus winning the Runner’s Up Trophy under the Best Team category. Suyash (third place overall with 18 wins – the joint highest) and Madhav (fifth place with 16.5 wins) finished in the top five among 136 players from over 25 countries. Also in the top 20 were Ahana (16th) and Samarth (17th), who also finished second in the under-14 category.
Madhav, who became India’s youngest national Scrabble champion and the world’s youngest Scrabble Grandmaster last year, created history by becoming the first player to win a major global Scrabble tournament for India when he won the 2025 WYSC in Malaysia. Currently ranked among the top ten players in the world, he remains the most consistent youth Scrabble player in the world given his remarkable performances in the past one year.
India’s competitive youth Scrabble circuit has seen an upswing in recent years, with Madhav’s 2025 WYSC success being further amplified by the introduction of an All-India Schools Championship earlier this year, which provides budding young Scrabble talents across the country with a pathway through regional tournaments towards eventually entering the competitive Scrabble arena.
The ever-improving performances of Indian players across international and national tournaments bodes well for the future of youth Scrabble in India, as Scrabble strives to be recognised as a sport in its own right in India. The 2026 World Youth Scrabble Championship provided yet another example of India’s growing youth Scrabble standing, as the players displayed their tremendous potential on the global stage.