A thirteen year old Arvind Mahankali studying eighth standard in USA living at Bayside Hills, New York won the competition of 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee held at Washington.

Arvind correctly spelled the word 'Knaidel' which is derived from German and means 'a small mass of leavened dough'.  In his participation in the previous 3 years he stood third, third and ninth and eliminated only because of the German derived words in which he could not fare well.  This year by spelling 'dehnstufe' he came to the finals and with 'knaidel' he won a praise of $30000.

This is for the sixth time an Indian national won the prestigious spelling competition that is watched by many with interest.  Arvind likes Mathematics and Science.  He said that he wants to become a scientist.

 
(AW-SriJa)