Twenty-four-year-old Oluwatimilehin Doko has emerged as the winner of the
15th African Scrabble Championship, recently concluded in Rwanda. (more…)
Doko Oluwatimilehin, a 500-level Pharmacy student at the University of Lagos has emerged winner of the second edition of the West African Scrabble Championship, (WASC) which took place in Lagos on Saturday the 25th of November 2023.
Doko, who missed the African Scrabble Championship in Lusaka, Zambia and the World Scrabble Championship held in Las Vegas, Nevada USA in July 2023, won nineteen and lost nine rounds of games with a cumulative spread of +1163 points to edge out Tega Okiemute (3rd) and former African champion Moses Peter, who finished second.
The 2nd WASC title holder had an impressive run throughout the three-day Championship. He ended day one at the top of the ladder with 9 wins. At the end of day two, Oluwatimilehin Doko (15 points, +774) and George Ezinore secured 15 wins each but Ezinore finished the day ahead on spread (+1243)
At the start of the final day of the championship, Doko defeated his school mate and current African Scrabble Champion Enoch Nwali 495-293 in game 23 on table 2. He then had to contend with the second runner-up, Tega Okiemute three times in the final KOH rounds; 26, 27 and 28 to claim the WASC title and the two thousand dollar cash prize.
Moses Peter finished in second place after beating George Ezinore 507-418 to amass 18 points with Tega Okiemute (18 points, +1165) but Moses Peter went home with the one thousand dollar first runner-up cash prize because of his higher cumulative (+1351) spread.
Team Nigeria, at the end of the championship asserted its dominance as the powerhouse of Scrabble game in Africa as its players occupied the first to the ninth positions.The players include Okiemute Tega, Karo Eta, Nwali Enoch, Ezinore George, Odoh Anthony, Etim Nsikak and Victor Godwin.The Gambia's Richard Sock finished in the tenth position to receive the hundred dollar cash prize earmarked for the top ten. Charles Tachie-Menson was the best Ghanaian at number 12 at the end of the competition.
Nigeria emerged winner of the team event claiming one thousand five hundred dollar cash prize while Gambia finished ahead of Ghana to claim the one thousand dollar team prize for the first runner-up. Team Ghana took home five hundred dollars for the third best team.
Elated by his feat, Doko admitted that his victory was not a stroll in the pack, saying that it has been a herculean task t combining studies and sports.
"It is very thrilling to win this tournament. I feel elated really, it is a dream come true. I just want to keep improving my game."
The President of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Toke Aka attributed the emergence of young players like African Scrabble Champion; Enoch Nwali and Doko Oluwatimilehin to the youth Scrabble games organised by the NSF to develop budding talents. "Then they used to have a scrabble game where secondary schools meet and winners emerge. Nwali Enoch and Doko Oluwatimilehin are a product of that tournament".
"They went through all of that, that was like 10 years ago when they started, today they are winning, it is not because they started today. They started a long time ago and we are beginning to see the result of what they started a long year ago,” he said.
The Sports Minister, Senator John Enoh represented by the ministry’s Lagos state Liaison Officer, Ikhana Mbora appreciated the effort of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, NSF for hosting the West African Championship. “We are impressed with the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, NSF. I am not surprised by what we are seeing. I want to thank you all for coming,” he said.
The next edition of the championship is expected to be hosted by Gambia, in 2024.
The Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) has named a 21 man team for the forthcoming West African Scrabble Championship (WASC) holding in Lagos, South West Nigeria.
The invitees list released by the NSF includes six former African Scrabble Championship winners and the winner of the inaugural West African Scrabble Championship, held last year in Ghana, Mr. Eta Karo. The list also includes several promising young players and two female players.
NSF Technical Director John Curtis who doubles as the Chairman of the Sub Committee Technical and Tournament Logistics, says the West Africa Championship is a 28 games competition. 1 random, 22 lagged and 5 king of the hill pairings.
"Team Nigeria is a mixture of talented youth and experienced wordsmith with decades of major international Championships management coupled with experience." Curtis said.
The tournament is expected to commence from the 22nd of November and be concluded on the 26th of November 2023. 12000 (twelve thousand) US dollars has set aside as cash rewards for the top individual and teams participating in the tournament. More information on the details of the tourney will be published before the tourney's commencement.
| Name | Club | No. of Local Tourneys | Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godwin VICTOR | Warri Scrabble Club | 17 | Current No.1 ranked resident Player/ EEAST Champion - 2023/ PANASA President’s Cup Champion - 2023. | ||
| Doko OLUWATIMILEHIN | Unilag Scrabble Club | 6 | MGI Grand Slam Finalist - 2023 | ||
| Rex OGBAKPA | Sapele Scrabble Club | 5 | Former African Champion | ||
| Nsikak ETIM | Shell Scrabble Club | 13 | Former African Champion/MGI Grand Slam Champion - 2023 | ||
| Enoch NWALI | Unilag Scrabble Club | 14 | Reigning African Champion - Champion Douye Diri Classic - 2023 | ||
| Jighere WELLINGTON | Sapele Scrabble Club | 14 | Former two time African Champion | Former World Champion - 2015 | Reigning NASPA Champion - 2023 |
| Anthony ODOK | Apex Scrabble Club | 16 | MGI MSPL Patron’s Cup Champion - 2023 | ||
| Jimoh ABDULMUMEEN | Apex Scrabble Club | 16 | |||
| Anthony ODOK | Apex Scrabble Club | 27 | MGI MSPL Patron’s Cup Champion - 2023 | ||
| John AYEDUN | Pyramid Scrabble Club | 23 | PANASA President’s Cup Semi Finalist - 2023 | ||
| Ehibudu CHUKWUDI | Apex Scrabble Club | 23 | |||
| Okiemute TEGA | Benin Scrabble Club | 18 | |||
| Ben QUICKPEN | Yenagoa Scrabble Club | 13 | |||
| Olaribigbe HAKEEM | Yenagoa Scrabble Club | 10 | |||
| Moses PETER | Uyo Scrabble Club | 7 | Former two time African Champion/Former National Champion | ||
| Eta KARO | Warri Scrabble Club | N/A | Reigning West African Scrabble Champion |
| Name | Club | No. of Local Tourneys | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| TUOYO Mayuku | Warri Scrabble Club | N/A | Highest Rated African Female Player |
| AFOLAYAN Bukunmi | Abeokuta Scrabble Club | N/A | Highest Rated Nigerian Female Player |
| ADEYEMI Adeosun | Ikorodu Scrabble Club | N/A | PANASA President’s Cup Semi Finalist - 2023 |
| EMMANUEL Umujose | Warri Scrabble Club | N/A | Former Winner - Akpabio Classics |
| EZINORE George | Benin Scrabble Club | N/A | Potential to excel |
Five (5) players have also been invited as standbys for the team.
| Name | Club | No. of Local Tourneys | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEGRO IGBINADOLOR | Jos Scrabble Club | N/A | Standby |
| ADEBOLA SAMUEL | Ogun Scrabble Club | N/A | Standby |
| SUNDAY OSHODI | Ikorodu Scrabble Club | N/A | Standby |
| OPEYEMI OLORO | Surulere Scrabble Club | N/A | Standby |
| OYEBOLA ALLI | Apex Scrabble Club | N/A | Standby |
Additional stories courtesy Maxwell Kumoye (NSF Media and Publicity)
Nigeria completed her sojourn at the 2023 World Scrabble Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA with a respectable fourth and second individual and team final position respectively. Thirty-two (32) preliminary games were played after which the top two players qualified for the best-of-seven finals. One hundred and thirty-five (135) players from twenty-nine (29) countries competed at the tournament.
(more…)
Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Grand Patron of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Sen. Godswill Akpabio has charged members of Team Nigeria to the World Scrabble Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, to make the country proud at the event. He gave this charge to the team on Tuesday in his office when the team led by NSF President Engineer Toke Aka paid him a visit. (more…)
Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) officials and the National Scrabble Team are prepared to retain the Africa Scrabble Championship title at the 14th edition starting in Lusaka, Zambia on Friday 21st October 2022. The NSF President Engr Olobatoke Aka said this in an interview with the media on Monday, just before jetting out with the national team to Zambia for the tournament.
The national team arrived Lusaka, Zambia on Tuesday 18th October in high spirits along with the senior team coach Anthony Ikolo and the Secretary General, the Vice President and the NSF President who is the leader of the team.
Nigeria has won the African title thirteen times. The last edition of the tournament hosted by Kenya in 2018 was won by Nigeria's Moses Peter. Nigeria will feature a 17 (seventeen) player team in this tournament. The team includes three female players, three former African title holders (Ikekeregor Dennis, Jighere Wellington and Etim Nsikak) and the team captain Oshevire Avwenagha.
The tournament commences on Friday the 21st and runs through Monday the 24th of October 2022.
The National Scrabble team led by the NSF President, Garba Gora successfully defended her 'Best Scrabble Team' trophy at the third edition of the WESPA Championship held in Goa, India. The Nigerian team had previously won the title at the inaugural WESPA championship in 2015 and successfully defended it at the last event in 2017. Also, Nigel Richards (New Zealand) overcame stiff opposition from Jesse Day (USA) 4-3 in a gruelling seven-round final to join Jighere Wellington (2015) and Ashkay Bhandakar (2017/defending champion) as winners of the World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) Championship.
Team Nigeria started brightly despite their late arrival to the tournament due to funding issues. At the 1-day pre-tournament (Goa Open) held on Wednesday 16th November, Nigeria's Emeka Mbagwu won the top prize, while Ojior Oshikhena and Jack Mpakaboari were first and second runners-up respectively. National coach, Anthony Ikolo and former president Toke Aka also picked the first and third-place prizes respectively in the A division of the Indian Open played from 18th to 20th November.
In the main tournament, Nigeria was represented by Team Captain Moses Peter, former Champion Jighere Wellington, Olatunde Oduwole, Etim Nsikan, Dennis Ikekeregor, Ben Quickpen, Enoch Nwali, Eta Karo, Emmanuel Umujose, Bukunmi Afolayan (female) and Oshevire Avwenagha. A total of 140 players from 32 countries participated in the tournament.
Acclaimed world best player, Nigel Richards triumphed after round 30 of the 32 game round-robin to qualify in style for the finals with two games to spare. Jesse Day later joined him in the finals, after subduing Oduwole (544-362) in round 31 and fellow American David Wiegand (520-328) in the final round. In the finals, Nigel Richards beat Day in the first (523-445) and second (424-403) rounds while the American hit back (459-363) in the third and (457-402) fourth rounds. Day won the fifth round (414-393) and Nigel had to dig deep for a 503-434 win in the sixth round to make the tally 3-3 and set up a nervy final round. Nigel Richard later won the 7th and final game 562-408 becoming the third winner from three different continents to win the prestigious title. Tacha Koowirat of Thailand finished in third place.
Overall team Nigeria put up a creditable performance at the main event with youthful Enoch Nwali who finished in 5th place at the forefront. The National Scrabble Team shrugged off stiff opposition from hosts India and the very strong Malaysia team to come first overall. The team finished with an average rank of 19.9 to finish ahead of India (25.4) and Malaysia (36.4) in the team (country) rankings.
Enoch Nwali - 5th
Ben Quickpen - 10th
Eta Karo - 11th
Olatunde Oduwole - 12th
Umujose Emmanuel - 16th
Dennis Ikekeregor - 23rd
Avwenegah Oshevire - 25th
Wellington Jighere - 30th
Nsikan Etim - 31st
Moses Peter - 36th
Bukunmi Afolayan - 58th
Other Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA) members viz Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Ghana also had representatives at the championship. Kenya's Alan Oyende who finished in 17th place was the best-placed non-Nigerian PANASA member at the tournament. Nigerian-born Niyi Adebayo (117th) and Lukeman Owolabi (78th) played for Scotland and Ireland respectively. Teenage sensation Tarin Pairor (17 yrs) of Thailand who finished in 23rd place turned more than a few heads for his stellar performance at the tournament.
Scrabble Kenya and the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA) invites all member federations to the 13th (thirteenth) edition of the Africa Scrabble Championship holding in Kenya.
The event is based on country representation.
The event will be held from the 28th November to 2nd December 2018 in Kirinyaga County. Kirinyaga County is a county in the former Central Province of Kenya. Its capital is Kutus and its largest town is Wanguru. In 2009, the county had a population of 528,054 and an area of 1,205.4 km². It is a one to two hours journey from Nairobi.
Each country will field the qualified fifteen players following the country-specific selection process (an additional 5 wildcards can be fielded in consultation with the PANASA secretariat).
The registration fee is $250 per player with country registration at $100 per federation. A total of 32 games will be played over 4 days with awards for the top 10 and country trophies.
To this end, the Nigeria Scrabble Federation has written to the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development for sponsorship.
Team Nigeria will depart for Kenya on Monday 26th November to defend her title won in 2016 (Ghana) by Saidu Ayorinde.
WESPA chairman Elie Dangoor has announced that GOA [note]Goa is a state in India within the coastal region known as the Konkan, in Western India. It is bounded by Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the east and south, with the Arabian Sea forming its Western coast. It is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Goa has the highest GDP per capita among all Indian states, that is two and a half times that of the country. It was ranked the 'best placed State' by the "Eleventh Finance Commission" for its infrastructure and ranked on top for the 'best quality of life' in India by the National Commission on Population based on the 12 Indicators. Source WikiPedia [/note] has won the right to host the World English-Language Scrabble Players' Association Championship WESPAC from 21st to 26th October 2019.
In a closely fought battle, Goa pipped Kuala Lumpur to host the next WESPAC. Thanks also to Trinidad & Tobago for an exciting bid. Both these places will hold great events in the not too distant future. More details and full article to come after June 8th, when Nick Ivanovski is back from holiday.
Cover photo by Satyajit Nayak - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
The National Senior Team Coach of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Mr Ikolo Anthony has invited twenty-two players to 5-day training camp in Port-Harcourt. The camping in collaboration with Total E&P Scrabble Club, Port-Harcourt is part of the process to select the teams that will represent Nigeria at this year's Africa Scrabble Championships, World Scrabble Championships and the Alchemist Cup holding in Gambia, England and Malaysia respectively. The camping will be held between the 21st - 25th of May 2018 at Total E&P Staff Club, Ogoja Street Amadi Flats Old GRA, Port Harcourt. Rivers State.
The list of invitees include fifteen top-rated home-based players viz
Four (4) players were given wild cards
Three (3) players were invited based on outstanding performance in recent tournaments and club retreats. They are:
Players will be provided accommodation, feeding (at least 1 free meal/day) and tea breaks as necessary.
Arrival date is Sunday, May 20, 2018. All invited players are expected to come with their complete scrabble playing materials. In addition, all players are expected to have been licensed and of good behaviour with respect to constituted authorities.
Invited players have until May 18, 2018, to give their consent to participate to NSF Technical Director, Mallam Faruq Baba - Inna (08036207546) and the Coach Senior Team (08023361200).
