KUALA LUMPUR: Two contestants from Malaysia and Singapore proved their mettle after they were named best spellers of their country, here today.
Jamie Ishirya Kumar from SK Sri Tebrau, Johor was named Malaysia’s best speller while Ryan Andrew A. Salao gained similar honours for Singapore.
Ryan Andrew also emerged as the overall top speller at the inaugural RHB Spelling Masters 2015 held at the Connexion@Nexus in Bangsar South City.
The spelling competition had pit top 10 winners of the 2015 edition of RHB-New Straits Times National Spell-It-Right (S-I-R) Challenge, Malaysia and RHB-The Straits Times National Spelling Competition (NSC).
Spellers were grouped in teams of four and contested in four rounds before the winners were declared.
Taking the first prize were ‘Spell Troopers’ which consisted of Iman Hariz Mohd Shahrizal from SK Rantau Petronas; Wan Amirul Aqil Wan Alias (SK Kubang Kerian 3); (Ryan Andres A Salao (Mayflower Primary School) and Navin Sivakumar (Anglo-Chinese School).
RHB Bank chairman Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said the success of SIR and NSC had inspired the company to take the event a notch further and expose spellers to the regional spelling levels.
“We want to provide exposure to the young participants to test their spelling might at the regional level. This will also enhance their self-confidence and develop them into well-rounded individuals,” he said.
The event is RHB’s corporate responsibility programme (CSR) which aims to foster teamwork and enhance ties between participants from both countries.
Present at the event were Education Ministry Director, Fully Residential and Excellence Schools Management Division Rashidah Md Arif and Group Managing Director of RHB Banking Group, Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli.
The panel of judges comprised Dr Ramesh Nair, Associate Professor at the Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA and Director of Journals for the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association; and Serena Goh, The Straits Times Schools Programme Editor.
The competition saw participation from top primary school winners of SIR 2015 who were among participants from 750 schools while NSC 2015 were from 180 schools.
SIR, introduced in 2008 in collaboration with The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia), is a competition open to primary and secondary schools.
Winners list:
1st place: Spell Troopers
• Iman Hariz Mohd Shahrizal -SK Rantau Petronas
• Wan Amirul Aqil Wan Alias - SK Kubang Kerian 3
• Ryan Andres A Salao - Mayflower Primary School
• Navin Sivakumar - Anglo-Chinese School (primary)
2nd place: Fantastic Four
• Jamie Aishirya Kumar - SK Sri Tebrau
• Emmanuel Chong Hau - SJK (C) Ching Hwa Likas
• Neil Goh Ken Tze -Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)
• Dilan Tan Yin Da - St Joseph Institution Junior
Third place: Spell Champs
• Karrthik Sathiyamoorthy - SK St Michael 1
• Najihah Humairah Mohd Najmuddin - SK Sena
• Selina Peh Yuet Ning - St Hilda's Primary School
• Jerome Thomas Ng Tze Loong - Henry Park Primary School