World Scrabble: Nigeria leads after Day 1

The World Scrabble Championship started yesterday in Malaysia with eight games decided and Nigeria’s Jighere Wellington is the only player who has not lost any game.

Eight games will be played today and the last eight games will be played on Saturday. Thereafter, the two players with the highest number of wins will play the best of three finals on Sunday after which the next world champion for the next two years will emerge.

It would be recalled that Jighere narrowly missed the best of three finals two years ago in India when he came third after 24 games.

President of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Chief Toke Aka, writing via e-mail said that “Nigeria may jolly well be on the road to winning the WSC: Slowly and steadily we have come. I thank you all who have made it happen. Pray for us, we just might make it even though it is still early days. However, the signs are there for all to see.”