Pakistan鈥檚 Affan Salman, World Youth Scrabble champion, hopes for government support

In this handout photo, released on September 11, 2024, Pakistan鈥檚 Affan Salman lifts the trophy of the World Youth Scrabble Championship in Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Pakistan Scrabble Association)
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  • 16-year-old studied words for six hours a day, practiced with siblings to prepare for the tournament
  • With Salman鈥檚 win, Pakistan has become the only country ever to win the world youth title five times

KARACHI: Pakistan鈥檚 Affan Salman, who brought home the World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) 2024 trophy this month, said he hoped his win would motivate more kids to take the word game seriously and participate in global competitions, calling on the government to support the Pakistan Scrabble Association and provide funds for training and international travel.
The WYSC is organized by the World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) annually. The championship was first held in 2006, with the inaugural event taking place in Australia.
Salman,16, participated in the 19th edition of the WYSC held in Sri Lanka from September 6-8. This is the fifth time Pakistani players have claimed the championship title, which is a record.
鈥淚t was an unreal feeling and initially I couldn鈥檛 believe that I became the champion. But when everyone started congratulating me, I realized I have won,鈥� Salman told Arab News in an interview this week.
Salman played 23 games out of 24 and was crowned the champion in the 19th round.
鈥淚n this tournament, I made a highest point-scoring word of 158 points and that word was almagest,鈥� he said, spelling out the word for an influential treatise on astronomy written by the Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy in the second century AD.
Pakistan won two trophies, one for the championship title and the other for being the top-ranked team, with four of its players in the top ten. India鈥檚 Madhav Gopal Kamath, who stood fourth in the tournament, was one of the toughest opponents, Salman said.

鈥淭here were two tough opponents, the number one player of India, Madhav Gopal Kamath, and the number one player of Sri Lanka, Adheesha Dissanayake,鈥� the Pakistani player said.
鈥淚 played with Adheesha three times [out of which] he beat me one time. He beat me at a very crucial time in the tournament, in the 23rd round and I could see the championship going away.鈥�
鈥淣O GOVERNMENT SUPPORT鈥�
Born and raised in Karachi, Salman has three brothers and is currently in the 10th grade, with a special interest in Computer Sciences. His elder brother Ali Salman won the world youth scrabble title in 2022 while his younger brother was also competing with him in this year鈥檚 edition.
鈥淢y father introduced us to scrabble,鈥� Salman said. 鈥淗e told me to play it in my spare time. I didn鈥檛 know we would start playing on a professional level and start winning as well.鈥�
He said his elder brother was his inspiration.

鈥淗e taught me everything when we got into the depth of this game. Throughout the tournament, he motivated me a lot.鈥�
To prepare for competitions, Salman studied words six hours a day and also played practice games with his brothers.
鈥淭here are word lists as well as a specific software through which we study words. It schedules words every day. Until we learn those words, the software doesn鈥檛 spare us,鈥� the champion explained.
In the future, Salman says he wants to pursue computer engineering at the college level. He also hopes to participate and win big at the World Scrabble Championship (WSC), played to determine the world champion in competitive English-language Scrabble.
But for that he said government support was key.
鈥淭he government should collaborate with the Pakistan Scrabble Association 鈥� they should provide funds. If they cannot provide funds, they can at least sponsor our trips, that would make it much easier for us鈥� Salman said.
鈥淢ore kids will get motivated and feel that there is scope in scrabble.鈥�