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Tag: Scrabble Championship

  • Governor Diri National Scrabble Championship to hold next month in Bayelsa

    Governor Diri National Scrabble Championship to hold next month in Bayelsa

    One of the biggest and richest scrabble event in Africa, the Governor Douye Diri National Championship has been scheduled to hold next month in the Oil-rich coastal city of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

     

    The Main Organizing Committee (MOC), of the Governor Douye Diri National Scrabble Championship have confirmed that the fourth edition will start on the 23rd and end on the 25th of August 2024.

     

    The three-day Championship, which usually attracts the finest and most talented and equally gifted wordsmith in Nigeria and the rest of the world will take place the Chief Dappa Biriye Conference Centre of the Golden Tulip Hotel at Onopa, Yenagoa.

     

    Chairman of the Bayelsa State Scrabble Association (BYSA), Mr. Daniel Alabrah, confirmed the new dates after consultations with the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF).

     

    The BYSA chairman said the championship was earlier scheduled for July 27 and 28 but had to be shifted due to logistics reasons.

     

    Alabrah said preparations were on to deliver a hitch-free tournament and one of the best since it began in 2021.

     

     

     

    6.5 million has been set aside as prize money with the Most Valuable Player in the Masters category smiling home with a princely sum of 750,000 naira and a trophy.

     

    “The Governor Diri Scrabble Championship has become the biggest tournament on the NSF calendar and attracts our country’s top players that are dominating the local, African and international circuit,“ Alabrah said.

     

    He further emphasized that this edition has a bigger prize money than the three previous ones.

     

    “This season four promises to be bigger as the prize money has been raised to N6.5 million for the top four categories. Winner of the Masters will take home the star prize of N750,000 and a giant trophy. This prize was N500,000 in the previous three editions,” he said.

     

    African scrabble champion, Enoch Nwali who recently won the Ultimate Scrabble Showdown won the Masters category last year.

     

    The BYSA chairman commended Governor Diri’s passion for all-round sports development, which has seen Bayelsa become a sporting hub in the South-South and indeed the whole country.

     

    He said the governor continues to encourage and develop other sports apart from football and that the state reaps the benefits in its outstanding performance at major national competitions.

     

    Alabrah further added that the registration and other details will be communicated through the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), and other Scrabble platforms on social media.

  • Edo State names team for Asaph Zadok National Championship in Abuja

    Edo State names team for Asaph Zadok National Championship in Abuja

    Edo is the third and latest State to name it’s team for the Asaph Zadok National Scrabble Festival scheduled to hold in Abuja on the 20th to the 22nd as well as the NSF Inter Club Championship which runs from the 24th to the 26th of March.
    The Chairman of Edo State Scrabble Association (ESSA), who is also the Vice President of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Engineer Bright Idahosa made this known in an interview with your authoritative news platform.
    The Edo State Scrabble team will be led by current and three times African bronze medalist Prince Omosefe and the most informed player of Match Day 1 and 2 of the 2023 MGI Elite Division 1 League, Tega Okiemute of Words Craft.
    Current national number 15 player, Cyril Umebiye and two member of Team Nigeria to the African Scrabble Championship and the West African Championship, Bright Idahosa and George Ezinore as well as Oghomaria Umukoro and Samuel Eromosele are in the team.
    Eromosele an excellent and experienced scrabble teacher and an instructor is the only intermediate player in the team heading to Abuja next weekend for the Asaph Zadok National Championship and the NSF Inter Club grand finale in the colours of the ‘Heart Beat of the Nation’ Edo State.
    Currently the NSF automated rating system has 89 players in its Masters category with Bukunmi Afolayan at number 83 with 1410 points, as the only female in the den.
    This is the current rating of members of Team Edo with an overall average of 1514 points at number 35:
    ★ Prince Omosefe -8- with 1657 rating points
    ★ Tega Okiemute -10- with 1646 rating points
    ★ Cyril Umebiye -15- with 1592 rating points
    ★ George Ezinore -42- with 1501 rating points
    ★ Bright Idahosa -44- with 1495 rating points
    ★ Oghomaria Umukoro -56- with 1456 points
    ★ Samuel Eromosele -198- with 1253 points
    In a bid to motivate the players, the Chairman of Edo State Sports Commission (ESSC), Yussuf Alli, says they are fully behind Team Edo to the Scrabble Festival in Abuja.
    Alli, a former African Long Jump record holder, stated that the State will continue to support the game of words so that it can reach its desired height in Nigeria and the world.
    “Edo State is the traditional home of sports in Nigeria and we are a strong force in the game of scrabble, so sports is always a key tool in developing and empowering the youth population of the state.” The former Commonwealth Games gold medalist stressed.
    Prince Omosefe, Tega Okiemute, Cyril Umebiye and George Ezinore are among the highly rated Nigerian players in the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA) and WESPA ratings.
    Mrs Chikere Sabina, the permanent secretary of Edo State Sports Commission (ESSC), urged the players to fly to the colours of the state with class, style and write their names and that of the state in gold in Abuja.
    “The battle to wear the NSF Green Jacket on March 26th will be just too hot for any faint hearted in the nation’s capital.” The Chairman of Edo State Scrabble Association (ESSA), Bright Idahosa says.
    Engineer Idahosa who has spent the last 25 years on the the Scrabble board is confident that Team Edo that came fifth in the scrabble event at the 2022 National Sports Festival in Asaba, Delta State will live up to its pre Championship hype.
    Idahosa who is also the Vice President of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), said the Asaph Zadok National Championship and the NSF Inter Club grand finale’s top honours is their goal in Abuja.
    “Look at our team, Prince Omosefe is a big tournament player any day, so to is Tega Okiemute, Cyril Umebiye Ezinore George and the other members of the team.” The Sports administrator and promoter said.
    “As a Federation, our goal is to make scrabble a professional sport in Nigeria,” Idahosa a member of the all conquering Team Nigeria squad to the African Scrabble Championship in Lusaka, Zambia added.
    The two Championships, the Annual General Meeting and the Awards and Gala Night of the Federation in Abuja is part of the program to end the 2022 NSF calendar of activities and usher in the 2023 season.
    “I look forward to a time when scrabble will become a professional sport. School scrabble will develop in Edo, a thriving league, being sponsored by corporate bodies.” The Engineer and a businessman concluded.
    All the events including the Gala Night, will hold at the exotic and classy Hotel de Bentley in Utako-district, in Abuja on the same date this month.
    Asaph Zadok National Championship the first in the series of activities starts on Monday the 20th and ends 22nd. The NSF AGM has been fixed for the 23rd while the Inter Club Scrabble grand finale begins 24th and ends on 26th.
    The Gala Night which is aimed at rewarding and recognizing the very best behind the sweet story and journey into the world number one scrabble playing nation on planet earth comes up in the evening of Sunday March 26th at the magnificent banquet hall of Hotel de Bentley.
    FC Couture has been selected to design and produce a customised Green Jacket for Asaph Zadok National Champion which will be presented on Sunday night during the Awards and Gala Night.
    For your information, the ‘Malaysian Prince’ Eta Karo the winner of the first edition of the West African Scrabble Championship and current national number 7 player is the first Nigerian Scrabble player to wear the traditional NSF National Champion Green Jacket in 2005.
    Each State of the Federation and FCT is expected to present six players and the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) will foot their accommodation and feeding bills.
    Besides Edo, Lagos State and the FCT have also named their teams for the Asaph Zadok National Scrabble Championship while 12 Clubs will fight for honours at the Inter Club grand finale.