8th October, 2012
Head coach of Nigeria’s scrabble team, Victor Owokere says Nigeria will select her top players to compete with their African counterparts at the upcoming 2012 African Scrabble championship holding in Zambia.
The bi-annual tourney that was hosted by Ghana in 2010 would see its 6th edition taking place in Livingstone town, Zambia, from 20-25 November, 2012.
In a chat with P.M.NEWS at the weekend, coach Owokere revealed that the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, NSF, would invite fifteen top ranked players in the country for an intensice camping in Lagos very soon.
“For us to continue to dominate the game of scrabble on the African continent, our intention is to invite between 10-15 top ranked players in the country for closed camping that would most likely be in Lagos.
“Having in mind that most of the players we intend to invite recently took part in the 2012 Akpabio classic held in Akwa Ibom, Uyo. We expect them to be in top form and with the camping that we will be having in Lagos, I don’t see us losing the title we won two years ago in Ghana,” he said.
On the criteria that would be used to invite players for the national camp, coach Owokere opined that players would be invited to camp based on their rating on the Nigeria scrabble federation ranking, adding that the only player assured of a place on the list of invitees is Moses Peter of Akwa Ibom State by virtue of his victory at the 2012 National Scrabble Championship.
Nigeria’s Wellington Jighere is the defending champion of the tourney but the 30-year-old Delta state-born player is not expected to be part of this year’s tourney having retired from the sport.
—Bamidele Olowosagba