Arabic version: مراهق من ملبورن يفوز بلقب بطولة العالم للشباب في سكرابل

According to ABC News, Melbourne teenager Dineth Fernando has won the 2026 World Youth Scrabble Championship in Nairobi, Kenya, becoming Australia’s sole competitor at an event featuring about 140 other players.

The 14-year-old, who moved to Australia from Sri Lanka in February, said he prepared by practising 200 words a day from Scrabble’s official dictionary. “All the hard work paid off,” Dineth said.

English is Dineth’s second language, and he said Scrabble has helped him settle into Australia and make friends. He began playing through school at age eight and previously competed in national championships in 2022 and 2024. In July, he won the Australian Youth Scrabble Championship, which led him to enter the world event.

His father, Prasanna Fernando, said the family faced around 25 hours of flying time to reach Kenya and that travel was at times threatened by the war between the US and Iran. He said he was proud of his son’s result and credited coach Rashid Sudin, who had worked with Dineth for several years.

Youth Australia Scrabbler Players Association president Tony Hunt said only one Australian school, Cabramatta Public School in Sydney, had Scrabble in its curriculum. He called for more schools to offer the game, describing it as a sport that supports literacy and numeracy.