8th South Asian Spelling Bee

The 8th Annual Metlife South Asian Spelling Bee was held at Rutgers University on August 14, 2015. The bee visited 12 regional centers, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, New Jersey, New York City, and Washington D.C. Both the champion and runner-up from each center were invited to the National Finals. 24 spellers participated in the finals. 6th grader Shourav Dasari was the champion, while 12 year old Jairam Hathwar was the National runner-up. Both spellers have relations to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Dasari's sister, Shobha, had been in the annual bee's semifinals and tied for 22nd place, while Hathwar's brother, Sriram, was the champion of the 87th Scripps National Spelling Bee. Jairam himself tied for 22nd place at the 88th Scripps National Spelling Bee. He would go on to win the 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee, tying with 5th grade Texan Nihar Janga. This was the third time consecutive time that co-champions were declared.^[1]

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