Although there were 11 Indian-American kids among the 59 who qualified for the semi-finals after a multiple-choice written round and three oral spelling rounds, they continued to fall by the wayside as the rounds progressed.
They failed to be among the top three, with Prateek Kohli, 13, an eighth grader from Hicksville Middle School in Hicksville, New York turning in the best performance by hanging in there till the 8th round until he was felled by the world 'oberek.'
Kohli misspelled it as 'oberok,' and with that went any chances of an Indian-American kid winning the top prize. The top four places had gone to Indian-Americans in 2005 when Anurag Kashyap won the championship and Aliya Deri, Samir Sudhir Patel, and Rajiv Tarigopula placing second, third and fourth.
Image: One of the Indian-American contestants, Sameer Mishra of West Lafayette, Indiana, spelling a word during the competition.
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