'Knaidel', the word that won 13-year-old Indian-American Arvind Mahankali the Scripps National Spelling Bee crown, may have been wrongly spelled, Jewish linguists have claimed. Arvind, from New York, won the contest on Thursday by correctly spelling 'knaidel', a German word of Yiddish origin which means a small mass of leavened dough.
Arvind Mahankali from New York has scripted history by winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee for 2013, becoming the sixth Indian-American to win the title in a row. "The words were extremely hard. It means that I am retiring in a good mood," Arvind said immediately after winning the prestigious national championship.
India Abroad -- the newspaper published from New York and owned by Rediff.com -- releases a special edition honouring the 11 winners of the India Abroad Person of the Year Award.
A total of 15 Indian-American students, including six girls, have made it to the national Spelling Bee semifinals, making it almost one-third of the total 42 candidates who have qualified.
Two Indian-Americans -- Sriram J Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe -- have scripted history by becoming co-champions of the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee, the first since 1962.
A 13-year old Indian-origin boy has emerged as the winner of a spelling bee contest in the United States in an epic verbal duel that lasted a total of 95 rounds, after judges ran out of words in a previous marathon round held last month.
Sri Srinivasan, the first Indian-origin federal judge in the United States, is India Abroad Person of the Year 2013
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