TEXAS: Karthik Nemmani of McKinney won the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, taking home a $40,000 cash prize after beating the same speller who defeated him at his countywide bee in February.Nemmani, 14, went head-to-head with fellow Texan Naysa Modi, 12, for only a few moments before winning the bee with the word "koinonia," which is a body of religious believers. "I had confidence, but I didn’t really think it would happen," Nemmani said moments after receiving his trophy at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in suburban Washington."I’m just really happy. This has just been a dream come true." Modi quickly wiped away tears as she walked off the stage with her family. She lost the competition by misspelling the word bewusstseinslage, which is a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components. Nemmani’s loss to Modi at the county level would normally have disqualified him for the National bee but he took advantage of a new programme called RSVBee, which allows spellers to pay to compete in the National bee."In tough regions like Dallas and San Francisco, a lot of kids have a lot of potential, but they aren’t able to qualify," said Nemmani, who spent at least four hours a day studying for the bee. His father, Krishna Nemmani, an immigrant from Hyderabad, India, said his son had worked hard "every day and night."