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2026 WORLD YOUTH

Selecting Australia's World Youth Scrabble team for 2026

The 2026 World Youth Scrabble Championship will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from Aug 7 to 9.

n 2026, Kenya will proudly host the World Youth Scrabble Championship. See Kenya WSC

Australia is entitled to send 6 young players who get free entry. However all suitable players are welcome, provided they pay an entry fee.

For more information about Youth Scrabble in the international context, including reports of the previous WYSC events please visit http://www.youthscrabble.org

Selection process

This is an invitational event where players are selected by each participating country. For Australia the selection is done by the Council of Australian Scrabble Players Association. The rules for selection for free entry (ie the Australian quota places) in 2026 are:
  • You must be an Australian citizen, or have resided in Australia for at least 12 months prior to 30.04.2026.
  • You must be an ASPA member (or junior member, in NSW) at 30.04.2026
  • You must be born 1 Jan 2009 or later
  • The qualifying period is 01.05.2025 to 30.04.2026.
  • Contenders are ranked by their peak rating over the qualifying period. The secondary criterion is number of rated games within the qualification period.
  • There are two rating hurdles :
    1. You must have played 50 games within the Australian rating system before any peak.
    2. You must play at least 25 games within the Australian rating system during the qualification period.
  • If you miss a game for any reason other than an assigned bye, you cannot count a peak attained in that tournament for any qualification purposes. Games played will count towards games quotas.Ratings will be calculated as usual, with byes and forfeits not rated.
CASPA may make special determinations. If two players have the same peak rating, the one with the greater number of games in the qualification period is ranked higher.

Please inform John Hamilton (jjhamilton5@gmail.com) if you are aware of any other young Australian Scrabble players.

Qualification status at 09.04.2026.

CONTENDERS Games
in period		 Peak Status
1Dineth Fernando YES(VIC) 51 1828happy
2Oscar Ivanovski (VIC) 208 1754happy
3Nathan Tang (NSW) 140 1520happy
Alex Lam (NSW) 0 1409?Needs to play 25 games in the period.
4Ashwin Page NO(QLD) 98 1372happy
Vinh Nguyen (NSW) 15 1308Needs to play 25 games in the period.
5Ryder Lo (NSW) 78 1287happy
Jeffery Lam (NSW) 4 1213Needs to play 25 games in the period.
6Kelvin Korn (NSW) 50 1099happy
ALMOST IN
7Sam Pizzano (ACT) 173 1004nearly in
8Anthony Yap (QLD) 74 909nearly in
9Lucas Luu (NSW) 52 908nearly in
10Oliver Klistorner (NSW) 100 907nearly in
11Jithuni Vidanapathirana (VIC) 122 905nearly in
Huy Lam (NSW) 19 811?19 games played, needs 50
12Brendan Tia (NSW) 62 799nearly in
Vincent Nuon (NSW) 12 783?24 games played, needs 50
Marcus Robertson (ACT) 28 780?28 games played, needs 50
David Lam (NSW) 0 780?Needs to play 25 games in the period.
13Danira De Silva (QLD) 148 776nearly in
14Alvin Korn (NSW) 50 765nearly in
Ethan Tenaglia (TAS) 9 740?23 games played, needs 50
15Phi Long Ma (NSW) 56 738nearly in
James Lo (NSW) 31 717?49 games played, needs 50
Laiken Lam (NSW) 12 714?16 games played, needs 50
Eric Phan (NSW) 25 713?42 games played, needs 50
Tristan Hon (NSW) 11 697?38 games played, needs 50
Kevin Lam (NSW) 16 684?16 games played, needs 50
Raymond Tri (NSW) 11 660Needs to play 25 games in the period.
16Hugh Boveington (ACT) 98 639nearly in
Jayco Lo (NSW) 28 593?32 games played, needs 50
17Justin Eng (NSW) 77 573nearly in
Albert Wang (NSW) 4 552?15 games played, needs 50
Edrick Long (NSW) 18 548Needs to play 25 games in the period.
18Ashley Korn (NSW) 31 547nearly in
Amy Ngo (NSW) 15 540?19 games played, needs 50
Keena Tri (NSW) 0 540?Needs to play 25 games in the period.
Divine Nillos (NSW) 8 537?16 games played, needs 50
Angela Ngo (NSW) 15 531?22 games played, needs 50
Micaiah Lam (NSW) 12 530?16 games played, needs 50
19Celina Liu (NSW) 52 508nearly in
Jay-Hanz Mesa (NSW) 11 505?18 games played, needs 50
Claire Choong (NSW) 34 500?34 games played, needs 50
Oriana Beecham (QLD) 23 500?23 games played, needs 50
Nayu Vuppala (ACT) 17 500?17 games played, needs 50
Felix Pham (NSW) 12 500?16 games played, needs 50
James Dinh (SA) 11 500?23 games played, needs 50
Selena Kuch (NSW) 11 500?18 games played, needs 50
Omitted names Few games: Karam Idwer(14), Rose Cuninghame(14), Kevin Boun(12), James Murtagh(11), Vanessa Pham(11), Alice Alzohayri(11), Tofarati Oluwole(11), Edward Hung(11), James Stark(10), Jaelene Mesa(8), Wara Rizvi(8), Adam Al-Quronfuli(8), Ana Rose Palatty(8), Deyana Rizvi(8), Ryan Zheng(8), Shindy Oluwole(7), Zachary Soutanich(7), Ryan Cuninghame(6), Zachary Young(4), Aaron Tran(4), John Halim(4), Kelvin Nguyen(4), Isabelle Levantard(4), Jimmy Nguyen(4), Harrison Tran(4), Kieran Phinith(4), Arham Shenhzad(4), Angelina Nguyen(4), William Tran(4), Tiara Huynh(4), Khai Nguyen(4), Micah Cheung(4), Muntaha Humayrah(4), My Huynh(4), Rosalie Young(4), Ryan Phantharangsy(4), Shanira De Silva(4), Sunaira Sadi(4), Thomas Hanna(4), Bryson Johnson(3), Clarissa Low(3), Daniel Fu(3), Simon Wilson-Ahap(3), Lexi Steinberg(3), William Sim(2)
Inactive: Alistair Scott, Annie Ly, Daniel Liu, David Boun, Evan Hsieh, Hemali Dave, Jemima Ferguson, Micky Huang, Patrick Huynh, Raghav Agrawal, Raymond Hsieh, Richard Ha, Sanvi Shah, Sreypov Pheng, Sunstar Tran, Tanissha Suppiah, Tanvi Bongale, Tracy Nguyen
Age unknown: Aaron Tran, Adam Al-Quronfuli, Alice Alzohayri, Alistair Scott, Ana Rose Palatty, Angelina Nguyen, Annie Ly, Arham Shenhzad, Bryson Johnson, Celina Liu, Claire Choong, Daniel Fu, Daniel Liu, David Boun, Deyana Rizvi, Edward Hung, Ethan Tenaglia, Evan Hsieh, Felix Pham, Harrison Tran, James Dinh, James Stark, Jemima Ferguson, Jimmy Nguyen, John Halim, Karam Idwer, Kelvin Nguyen, Khai Nguyen, Kieran Phinith, Lexi Steinberg, Marcus Robertson, Micah Cheung, Muntaha Humayrah, My Huynh, Nayu Vuppala, Patrick Huynh, Raghav Agrawal, Raymond Hsieh, Richard Ha, Rose Cuninghame, Ryan Cuninghame, Ryan Phantharangsy, Shindy Oluwole, Simon Wilson-Ahap, Sunaira Sadi, Sunstar Tran, Thomas Hanna, Tiara Huynh, Tofarati Oluwole, Tracy Nguyen, Wara Rizvi, William Sim, William Tran, Zachary Soutanich

Recently processed:
21.03.2026 LAKE MACQUARIE AUTUMN (NSW)
21.03.2026 oitoo18 (NSW) , Lucas😃 (+23), Phi😃 (+22), Brendan😃 (+29), Eric (-3), Celina😃 (+44)
22.03.2026 March Madness (QLD) , James😃 (+52), Oriana (+0)
29.03.2026 PROSPECT 20TH ANNIVERSARY (SA) , James (+0)
29.03.2026 Pre Nationals (VIC) , Dineth😃 (+58), Oscar (-2), Jithuni😃 (+8)
02.04.2026 Australian Womens Champ (ACT)
03.04.2026 Mindsport Mini (ACT) , Oliver😃 (+36), Danira😃 (+44), Jithuni😃 (+3), Sam (-6), Marcus😃 (+8), Celina😃 (+8), Oriana😃 (+14), Hugh (-22), Dineth😃 (+24)
04.04.2026 AUS CHAMPS (ACT) , Dineth😃 (+24), Oscar😃 (+21), Nathan😃 (+9), Ryder😃 (+78), Sam😃 (+63), Danira😃 (+101), Hugh😃 (+12), Celina (-110), Jithuni😃 (+29)
09.04.2026 Mindsport Canberra (ACT) , Hugh😃 (+20), Jithuni😃 (+13), Sam😃 (+15), Danira (-11), Celina😃 (+8), Oriana (-14)