… As Scrabble Festival begins
The 2nd edition of the NSF National Scrabble Festival began yesterday, with the Asaph Zadok National Scrabble Championship – Gateway 2024, at the serene and spacious Rolak Hotel and Suites, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, South-West, Nigeria.
58 players from 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory are vying for honours in the individual and team events at the annual Championship that is set to bring together the best minds in the game of words and mind.
Host Ogun State, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Kwara, Oyo, Lagos, Rivers and the FCT, produced the teams that are gracing the three-day, 28 rounds of games Championship.
Africa’s highest rated player with 1760 rating points, West Africa Scrabble Champion and tournament top seed 500 level UNILAG undergraduate, Oluwatimilehin Doko, bears the badge of hosts Ogun State and leads the 58 man strong cast.
Hosts also have in their fold 2022 National Sports Festival gold medalist, Jimoh Abdulmumini, 2023 South-West Closed Championship winner, Cyril Umeriye, Adebola Samuel, the hard fighter Gbadebo Olufemi, with Khaleel Adedeji adding to their number, as the lowest ranked member of Team Ogun to the National Championship.
Defending champions Delta State, storms the Gateway State with a loaded engine room, lead by former World Champion and tournament number 4 seed Wellington Jighere, with 1642 points, PANASA President Cup (PPC) winner, Godwin Victor comes one spot behind, 9 points short of Jighere’ tally.
Captain of Team Delta, two-time African Champion, Dennis Ikekeregua, enters the playing field with 1600 ranking points at number 7, with the likes of multiple National Sports Festival gold medalist, Emmanuel Umujose, Whiskey Godsfavour, Jacob Tone and Ochuko Akpoiotor completing the list for the scrabblers from the sports capital of Nigeria.
Tega Okiemute, who narrowly missed out on glory at the 2023 West Africa Scrabble Championship (WASC) and the recently concluded 13th African Games, Scrabble Event in Ghana, will be looking to write a different story in Ijebu-Ode with Edo State, with hopes that being tournament 2nd seed will give him an edge.
The Asaph Zadok National Scrabble Championship is a 28-round of game event. 1 Random, 22 Lagged and 5 King of the hill and each player has 25 minutes per game, while the 2021 Collins Scrabble Word Dictionary – CSW21 is the lexicon for the competition.
Eta Paul Karo, is the reigning Champion in the Individual event, while Delta State are the defending champions in the Team Event that is rated by NSF, PANASA and WESPA.