16th April, 2012
All roads lead to Ibadan on Friday as the Scrabble Federation of Nigeria holds this year’s Ibadan Open Scrabble Championship.
The annual scrabble tourney, which enters its 8th edition this year will hold between 21-22 April, 2012, with over 100 players already indicating intererst to participate in the Masters, Intermediate and Open categories.
The event will be holding at the Liberty Stadium Indoor Sports Hall, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Registration fee for players in the Masters category is fixed at N5,000, while players in the Intermediate and Opens categories will register with N4,000 each. Female players will be allowed to pay 50 per cent of the registration fee to play in the tournament.
Speaking with P.M.Sports, General Secretary of the Federation, James Eaknys, said: “The tourney in Ibadan would serve as a qualifier to select players that will represent Nigeria at the Africa Scrabble Championship, ASC, in Zambia in November, 2012.”
Eakyns also informed that the prize money for the Masters is N150,000 for the champion, while runner-up gets N100,000.The third place player gets N50,000, fourth N30,000 and fifth to 10th placed players will be given N10,000 each.
In the intermediate and Open categories, the winner goes home with the sum of N75,000, second gets N40,000, third gets N20,000 while fourth gets N15,000. The fifth to 10th positions get N5,000 each just as the 11th-15th get N4,000 each.
—Bamidele Olowosagba