The WESPA Youth Cup which commenced in 2006 is the leading tournament for under 18 scrabblers worldwide and this year’s Championship attracted 116 players from 15 countries. Royal has the unique distinction of having had a player represent Sri Lanka at all 13 Championships. Royal is also the only school to have produced the Winner and the 1^st runner-up at a Championship to date, which was achieved in Kuala Lampur in 2017.

Janul de Silva of Royal College emerged as the 1^st runner-up at the 13^th World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) Youth Cup (previously known as the World Youth Scrabble Championship) held from 13 – 15 December 2018 in Dubai.

Janul was the joint leader with Syed Imaad Ali (Pakistan) at the end of the 23^rd round but lost the last game to Syed and had to be content with the 1^st runner-up position. Incidentally Janul was also the 1^st runner-up in 2017.

Aabid Ismail also from Royal who was the defending champion produced a strong comeback to be placed 4^th at this year’s Championship. Aabid also won the award for the high word score.

Royalists Qays Sangani and Pasindu Mallawaraarachchi performed strongly on the first two days of the championship but below par performances on the final day saw them having to be content with 26^th and 35^th places respectively.

The Sri Lankan team had to be content with 2^nd position as Pakistan edged them by one point to be the Best National Team this year. Sri Lanka was the Best National Team from 2015 to 2017 powered by strong performances from the Royalists.

Royal scrabblers have been performing consistently at these Championships over the past few years. Aabid in addition to the above performances was the 2^nd runner-up and the Under 16 World Champion in 2016. He also won the high word score in 2016. Janul was the Under 16 World Champion in 2017 and also the 4^th and the Under 14 World Champion in 2015. Qays was placed 8^th in 2016.