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Local Speller Makes It To Final Day Of 'Bee'

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May 30, 2008 4:17 pm US/Eastern

Local Speller Makes It To Final Day Of 'Bee'

WASHINGTON (WBZ) ― Monophthalmic. No problem. Suggillation. Piece of cake. But when it came to cryptococcosis, Akshat Shekhar gave into the pressure.

If all of that looked like a foreign language - welcome to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, where the nation's best young spellers compete for top honors.

Six local spellers made the national stage, but none made it further than 12-year-old Akshat, an 8th grader at Roxbury Latin. In his fourth and final appearance at the National Spelling Bee, he fell just one word short of the finals.

Akshat was eliminated in Round 7, where he was one of the last 16 spellers standing. Twelve spellers made it through to the finals, to be televised nationally in Prime Time Friday night.

The word that tripped him up was cryptococcosis, a disease chiefly found in soil contaminated by pigeon droppings, and characterized by lesions, esp. of the nervous system and lungs. Akshat spelled the word cryptoccocosis.

Akshat was sponsored by the Patriot Ledger, after winning their regional spelling be for an unprecedented fourth year in a row. In his previous national appearances he made it to 4th round at 9-years-old, the 4th round again at 10-years-old, and the 5th round last year at 11-years-old.

Here are the words Akshat spelled correctly on-stage during the week-long competition:

Coronary
Regelate
Monophthalmic
Illative
Suggilation

Other local spellers who compete in the National Spelling Bee this year:

Ross Gladstone Garrity of Boston, 11-year-old fifth grader at the Learning Project. Eliminated in Round 2

Mallika Govindan of Lancaster, 14-year-old eighth grader at Luther Burbank Middle School. Eliminated in Round 3

Kaylee Gina D'Amico of Lynn, 13-year-old eighth grader at KIPP Academy Lynn. Eliminated after Round 2

Anna Hughes of West Tisbury, 14-year-old eighth grader at Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School. Eliminated after Round 2

Avvinash Radakrishnan of Nashua, 12-year-old seventh grader at Nashua Catholic Regional Junior High School. Eliminated in Round 3

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

© MMIX, CBS Corporation. All rights reserved.