Three former African Scrabble Champions and the reigning one, and four former winners of the Godswill Akpabio International Scrabble Classics highlight this year’s entry that has topped 448 contestants compared to the less than 310 that competed last year.

Moshood Sani, Dennis Ikekeregor, Jighere Wellington and Rex Oghakpa African Champions all, and four former Akpabio winners, Umujose Emmanuel, Moses Peter, Jighere Wellington and Sammy Okosagah are in Uyo to battle it out for this year’s diadem.

Meanwhile, subject to screening and accreditation, the entry list yesterday hit the 448 mark, the largest ever in the history of the event.

The Technical team of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation on Tuesday were seen at the venue of the Classics, the Five Star Ibom Le Meridien Hotel trying to acquire additional space for the event since the hall that has been used in the past five years will not accommodate the entry for this year.

“This will be the first time ever in any competition world wide that you have up to 400 entries and we are in the process of updating our soft ware to accommodate the influx, especially in the Open Category” The NSF President Sulaiman Gora said.

Official figures made available to the media yesterday has it that the Open Category has the greatest entry of 237 participants, the Intermediate has 104, the Masters 52 and the Veterans 55 players.

Member of the Local Organising Committee   and Chairman Accommodation Sub Committee Mr Steve Umo Ndak who was in the company of the National executive in the quest to acquire more hall space for the competition said it was a thing of joy to see so many Scrabble players all over the world showing interest in the Classics, although it has stretched them to their limits since they did not plan or budget for such a number.

“…..You can imagine having about 310 last year, only for the figure to shoot to 448 this year. It has defied logistics and budgetary planning, yet we are on top of the situation “ he said.