SpellBee Dallas & Houston winners announced

Dallas Winners: (Left to Right): Sandhya Sharma, Regional Event Director-Dallas, Smrithi Upadhyayula, second runner-up, Ananya Kodali, regional champion, Rohan Rajeev, first runner-up, Rahul Walia, Founder of The MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee
Dallas Winners: (Left to Right): Sandhya Sharma, Regional Event Director-Dallas, Smrithi Upadhyayula, second runner-up, Ananya Kodali, regional champion, Rohan Rajeev, first runner-up, Rahul Walia, Founder of The MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee

DALLAS, TX: Continuing its quest for the best speller in the community, the 2016 MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee traveled to Texas this past weekend with stops in Dallas and Houston.

With a huge turnout this year as well, the Bee attracted some top talent as well as young and new spellers that competed for the coveted prizes and titles.

In the Dallas Regional, Ananya Kodali (14) of Highland Village, Texas was the regional champ, Rohan Rajeev (13) of Edmond, Oklahoma, was the first runner up and, Smrithi Upadhyayula (14) of Coppell, Texas, was second runner up.

In Houston, Raksheet Kota (13) from Katy, Texas was named regional champ, Alex Iyer (13) from Hill, Texas was first runner up. Abhirami Jeeyseelan (13) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana second runner-up.
The event is open to children of South Asian descent up to 14 years of age.

It will give South Asian children a chance to test their spelling skills in their core peer group. Interested spellers need their parent or guardian to register them online at www.southasianspellingbee.com.

Organized by Touchdown Media Inc., the 2016 MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee is being conducted in 12 locations across the United States. Regional level events are held in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. Metro, New Jersey, New York and Boston. All events are free to attend and open to the public.

Accra, Ghana was announced as the 13th center from where spellers of South Asian descent will qualify for the finals.

India Post News Service