Forty-five minutes after a tense contest, 12-year-old Ananya Vinay emerged victorious in the finals of the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US. Vinay, whose opponent Rohan Rajeev is also an Indian-American, became the 13th consecutive Indian-origin winner of the event.
Vinay emerged victorious after correctly spelling “marocain” (video above), a word with French roots for a type of type of crepe fabric of silk or rayon. She beat 290 other contestants.
The youngest in the competition this year, Vinay still is eligible for two more Scripps tournaments, should she decide to defend her title. “It’s like a dream come true,” she said after her win according to AP. “I am so happy right now.”
After her victory, the youngster did the usual round of American talkshows, but unfortunately got racially typed during her appearance on CNN. When asked to spell Trump’s “covfefe” (hilarious, right?), Vinay offered a different spelling for the nonsense word.
The anchor’s informed response? “We’re not sure its root is actually in Sanskrit, which is what you are probably used to.”
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