A 13-year-old American boy representing Japan was disqualified during preliminaries at an annual U.S. spelling competition Wednesday. He said he is keen to do better next year.
Sean Fogerty, who was born and lives in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture, said he was "proud to be the sole representative from Japan" among the 283 spellers from eight countries including South Korea and China in the Spelling Bee competition, one of the most popular educational competitions in the United States. He was selected to represent Japan after winning the 6th Japan Times Spelling Bee in March.
Fogerty, who attends Robert D. Edgren High School at a U.S. military base in Misawa, stumbled on the word "sortition" in the third round of the competition, after having successfully spelled "confetti" in an earlier round.