Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, has become the first African American to win the US Scripps National Spelling Bee.

She cruised to victory with the word "murraya", a type of tropical tree, after having to spell out "querimonious" and "solidungulate".

Despite practising for up to seven hours a day, she describes spelling as a side hobby - Zaila's main focus is on becoming a basketball pro. She already holds three world records for dribbling multiple balls at once.

Zaila saw off a field of 11 finalists on Thursday to win the title and bagged a first-place prize of $50,000 (£36,000) at the event in Orlando, Florida.

Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog

#Spelling #BBCNews