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Indian-American Boy Wins Epic Spelling Bee Battle
"Behind him, Sophia was first to clap, happy for the friend she got to know in passing 75 times back and forth to the microphone," Star said.
"Kush, a polite young man, patiently gave the moderator a handshake before hurriedly going to Sophia. They hugged," the newspaper said.
Minutes later, Sophia said: "It was a great experience and I'm happy for Kush." She added she would be back next year.
In their previous epic battle, the two had traded "madeleine" for "scherzo", "mukhtar" for "bobbejaan", and on and on for more than five hours before the judges ran out of words resulting in a rare tie.
But Scripps officials rejected a groundswell push on Twitter to "Send Them Both!" to the nationals in Washington D.C. in May.
In Saturday's contest, neither skipped a beat until Sophia's miss in Round 28. During the ensuing break, she gathered with her family, and Kush saw Sophia crying.
He walked over and bent to her. "Stop crying or you're going to make me cry," he told her, according to the Star. She looked up and laughed.
Indian-Americans have dominated the contest over the years. New York student Arvind Mahankali won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee, breaking a personal four-year losing streak.
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Source: IANS
