Kevin Negandhi, a leading sports anchor with ESPN, would host this year's National Spelling Bee competition, becoming the first Indian-origin to present the prestigious event to a global audience. The spelling competition has produced Indian-American champions for eight consecutive years.

However, this is for the first time that an Indian- American would be hosting the prestigious event. This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee competition will be held near Washington, DC from May 24 to 26.

In addition to hosting SportsCenter, Negandhi has hosted NFL Live, Baseball Tonight, Outside the Lines, College Football Live, NBA Tonight, the women's NCAA basketball Final Four and the 2015 Special Olympics World Games.

Mr Negandhi's parents migrated to the US from Mumbai. He grew up in Philadelphia. He worked with Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today.

Mr Negandhi became the second Indian-American to be a local sports anchor in the US, serving as sports anchor and later sports director at KTVO-TV from 1998-99.

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