Indian-American teen wins U.S. Spelling Bee crown

Gets past ‘cymotrichous,' makes it fourth in a row for the community

Indian-origin Sukanya Roy holds the trophy after winning the National Spelling Bee championship in the U.S. on Thursday.

Sukanya Roy won the crown at the prestigious Spelling Bee championships in Maryland, U.S. on Thursday evening. The 14-year-old is the fourth Indian-origin student in a row to bag top honours at the event, for correctly spelling the tongue twister ‘cymotrichous.'

“My heart started pounding, I guess,” Ms. Sukanya said, after winning the championship, considered a coveted prize for students in the U.S.

The difficult word she negotiated relates to wavy hair.

“I couldn't believe it. It's just amazing! It's hard to put into words,” said the Class 8 student of Pennsylvania's Abington Heights Middle School. She was declared winner following the finals among 13 candidates.

The teenager earlier participated in the 2009 and 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bees, tying for 12th place in 2009 and 20th place in 2010.

This is the ninth time in 13 years that an Indian American has been declared a Spelling Bee champion, reflecting the dominance of the community students in the competition.

Ms. Sukanya, who enjoys hiking, rock climbing and ice skating, was selected to go to Panama this summer with her school's ecology club to learn more about the rain forest. A pianist, she also plays the violin in her school's orchestra. She has won first place in the individual portion of the northeast Pennsylvania Chapter Mathcounts Competition.