Two Indian boys share Spelling Bee championship

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, and Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, New York, were declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee after fighting to a draw during 39 rounds of competition. This is the third year in a row that two people share the championship.

“It was just insane,” Jairam said as he and Nihar triumphantly hoisted the golden winner’s cup into the air, USA Today reported. “I’m just speechless,” Nihar said. “I’m only in the fifth grade.”

Jairam’s final word in the competition was “Feldenkrais,” a trademark that refers to a system of aided body movements.

Nihar stayed in the competition by correctly spelling “gesellschaft,” which refers to a type of social relationship.

Twice, it looked as if Jairam would be eliminated, after he misspelled “drahthaar,” a breed of dog, and “mischsprache,” a language. But Nihar missed his follow-up words, which put Jairam back in contention.

The spellers will take home $40,000 in cash and other prizes.

The bee changed the rules this year to avoid what exactly what happened — a marathon championship round. Words given to finalists didn't come from a 25-word list predetermined by spelling officials, Paige Kimble, the bee's executive director, said. Instead, organizers had the option of using an expanded list of words from anywhere in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. Kimble called it “raising the standard.” But it didn't work, according to USA Today.

Jairam is the younger brother of 2014 co-champion, Sriram Hathwar. He said the best advice he got from his brother was not to get too agitated if he was given a word he didn’t know. He plans on saving his winnings to pay for college.

Ten contestants made it to the finals and competed for the title of national champion before a live television audience.

The bee began with 284 contestants.

Jairam said if his brother had not participated, he would not be here.
Earlier in the week, Jairam -- who watched his brother Sriram take the 2014 championship, and is in his second bee -- said it's different being in the competition.
"It's more thrilling," he said. "It's nervewracking."
Jairam is the second sibling pair to win the bee. Last year, Vanya Shivashankar became the co-champion; her sister Kavya won in 2010.
This is the third year in a row there have been co-champions. Before that, the last co-champion was in 1957.
"I still have to get through this level," said Nihar, before the finals. "I'm pretty happy."
Nihar said he wasn't confident in an earlier round, when many spellers were eliminated, but his confidence increased through subsequent rounds.
"My goal is just to get to the top five, top three," he said.
Jairam said he didn't have a goal for himself before he got to the finals.
"I want to do my best," he said. "Of course, I felt happy."
The bee's records are incomplete, but multiple 11-year-olds have won the bee. The last time someone younger than 13 did was George Thampy, in 2000.
The last time a first-time speller won was Pratyush Buddiga in 2002. 

After the confetti fell, the pair talked about their victory.
"I'm just very proud of myself and the hard work paid off," Nihar said. "I felt nervous all the time."
Nihar said he didn't pay attention to the cheering audience because he didn't want to be distracted. Instead, he said, he just focused on Dr. Bailly and his pronunciations.
He likes spelling, he said, because it teaches him about food and culture. The words were harder than he thought they would be, he said. But he didn't mind how long the competition went.
"To me, it wasn't long," Nihar said. "It doesn't matter how much time it takes."
Nihar and Jairam both said they expected to drop out long before they did. In fact, they each got two words wrong during the head-to-head spelling, but got them wrong during the same round.
Jairam, Nihar said, is one of his best spelling friends. He said he is happy to share the championship.
Jairam said he was sad when he misspelled and thought the competition was over.
"I didn't want to get out," he said. "I made it that far."
Jairam's brother, 2014 co-champion Sriram Hathwar, was cheering him on from the audience.
But Jairam said he tried not to be distracted.
"I wasn't expecting this," he said. "I dreamed about winning this bee and it finally came true. It's just amazing."
Though Jairam was eligible to compete for another year, he said he wanted to treat this year like it was his last because it's hard to get back to this level of competition.
"It's just amazing," he said. "I can't even believe this is real."