New York: Indian-American student, Jaskaran Singh, won a premiere students’ quiz tournament — Jeopardy — the National College Championship and bagged prize money of $250,000.
The 22-year-old Singh, who is studying at the University of Texas at Austin, emerged winner among 36 students on Tuesday. The participants were shortlisted from about 26,000 students who competed for over two weeks.
Singh was modest about his success after winning the championship. “I just sort of just buzzed fast and know things, pretty much. I don’t think there’s much more,” he was quoted as saying in an interview by news agency IANS.
Singh’s college fees “and a lot more” will be paid from the quarter-million dollars he won. The college tournament, an offshoot of Jeopardy, is the most popular daily quiz show here.
“An 1873 book title gave us this phrase for the period in the late 1800s of growth & prosperity & also greed & corruption,” was the puzzle given in the final round of the contest by the host television actor Mayim Bialik.
Singh, who gave the correct solution, was in the form of a question: “What is the gilded age?”
University of Minnesota’s Nibir Sharma won the 2019 tournament while Dhruv Gaur from Brown University pocketed the championship in 2018. No collegiate contests were held in the last two years due to COVID-19. Earlier, Vinita Kailasanath had won the title back in 2001.
However, four of the students contesting against Singh were of Indian origin and one was of Sri Lankan heritage, reported IANS.
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