Team Nigeria Holds Strong At World Scrabble Championship
Team Nigeria’s contingent are giving a good account of the country at the ongoing World Scrabble Championship as the competition reaches its critical stage in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
With 14 wins in the competition, Team Nigeria’s Wellington Jighere is running a neck and neck race with USA’s Will Anderson, who is topping the chart after day two for a higher cumulative.
Jighere, also a former World Champion, is occupying the second spot while Nsikakabasi Etim, also a member of the Team Nigeria, recorded 11 wins in 16 games. The duo are in the top ten of the competition, with Alec Sjoholm of USA, England’s Harshan Lamabadusuriya and Thacha Koowirat from Thailand also making the list.
Nigeria born Samson Okosagah, playing for USA and Russell Honeybun of Australia are all on 12 wins each, but separated by cumulative points.
The second chasing pack has Canada’s Matthew Tunnicliffe, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard of USA, Nigeria’s Nsikak Solomon Etim and Chris Lipe of United States. Also, Andrew Fisher from Australia and Canada’s Joshua Castellano have 11 victories, each.
Other members of Team Nigeria which includes Emmanuel Ofidi, Olatunde Oduwole, Osahon Omosefe and Temituoyo Mayuku are closing down on the board leaders with 10 wins, respectively. Olawale Fashina, Dipo Akanbi, Dennis Ikekeregor and Enoch Nwali are jamming back and hard on nine wins.
Current African Champion and King of Governor Diri National Championship, Enoch Nwali, who started day two at number 96 ended the day at 34th spot after recording six wins out of eight games played. The Health Education Student of the University of Lagos is now on nine wins overall.
President of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Olobatoke Aka, also the leader of Team Nigeria delegation said he was very confident that Day three of the Championship would push more Nigerians toward the top end.
“It’s tough out there, the positions at the end of today’s games will determine the outcome. We shall know if we will have a shot at the World Championship title,” he said.
These are the Africa’s best individuals standing after day two.
About 134 players drawn from 29 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and North America are participating in the Championship
