Plano’s Dhroov Bharatia advanced in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and is heading to the semifinals.
Bharatia, 13, tied for fourth in last year’s finals with Vivinsha Vedura, who’s from Keller.
The Plano teen, who is an eighth-grader at Wilson Middle School, told The Dallas Morning News that going into the quarter-finals, which were held this morning, he would be relying on his previous studying.
Bharatia correctly spelled the word “limen” in this morning’s round and will advance to the semifinals today starting at 8 p.m.
The preliminary round was held in Washington this Tuesday. Bharatia and Vedura competed against over 220 other spellers, 20 of whom were from Texas.
Bharatia qualified in the preliminaries by spelling the words “obnebulate” and “blondinette” correctly.
He told The Dallas Morning News that while he was confused with the root of “blondinette,” which is a type of pigeon, he was “99% sure” of his answer and ended up getting it correct.
You can watch the semifinals tonight streaming on ION and Bounce.
