Phuket, Thailand is a short drive from our Asian Championships site at the JW Marriott in Khao Lak, but the championships being in their backyard didn’t make the competition any less exciting for the students at Phuket International Academy Day School and British International School Phuket.

Though it was a short after-school tournament, all the students were excited to compete for their first time. BIS’ two teams faced off against host school PIA’s four teams in two divisions, with both BIS teams going undefeated in their preliminary rounds.

In the Bee, Jack Phelps and Peter Jansson were neck-and-neck in the prelims, with Callum Pedroni close behind. Callum couldn’t keep up with the likes of his classmates, however, and Jack and Peter advanced to the final stage of the Varsity Bee. They continued their prelim spirit and were 1-1, then 2-2, until on the last question Jack beat Callum to the buzzer for the win. In the Junior Varsity Bee, Kevin Cohen bested Leon Carpenter after a combined JV/Varsity prelim.

In the Middle School division of the Bee, PIA superstar Zane Sabbagh faced off against British International’s Minerva Kasaypanand. Minerva had a great round 1 of the prelims, getting 10 points. Zane, not to be outdone, was one shy of the 8 points in round 2 while Minerva got 4, bringing the final prelim score for the two to 14 Minerva, 13 Zane. The final was a real treat to watch, as the middle schoolers traded point for point. In the end, Zane pulled ahead with a 5-3 final score.

Thank you to both PIA and BIS for coming to our Phuket Fall tournament, and we look forward to seeing your qualified teams and students in Khao Lak!