By Awhawha Awhawha
A medical practitioner, Samuel Adebola, won the star prize of one million Naira at the fifth edition of the Governor Douye Diri National Scrabble Championship held at the weekend in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
The Ogun State-based doctor clinched the coveted trophy in the Masters category, beating stiff competition from a cast of top scrabble players from across the country.
More than 200 players participated in the tournament, which had a total prize money of over N10 million in five categories.
Adebola had a cumulative spread of +856 beating contenders Abdulmumin Jimoh and Chuks Nwaeze, who finished second and third with +672 and +354 respectively. He played bingos such as ‘Volubly’, ‘Claviger’ and ‘Averment’ to cart home the prestigious prize and a giant trophy.
In the Veterans category, Dokun Esan with a spread of +1180 came tops, with Edowor Bobor winning the Intermediate category with +710, while Dorcas Innocent won the Opens with +1046, and Pereowei Edidie of Federal Government College, Odi, Bayelsa State, took the trophy in the Students category with +2060.
President of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Engr. Olobatoke Aka, thanked the Bayelsa State government for sponsoring the competition in the last five years.
Aka appealed for increased funding and prize money while expressing the hope that the tournament would prepare Nigerian players to excel at this month’s African Youth Championship in Kenya, the World Youth Championship in Malaysia in October and the World Scrabble Championship in Ghana in November.
Chairman of the Bayelsa State Scrabble Association (BSSA), Mr. Daniel Alabrah, also appreciated Governor Diri for sponsoring the championship annually.
He said the tournament has continued to grow with increased funding and prizes, urging corporate organisations to support the game.
Alabrah noted that apart from the increased prize money, the fifth edition was significant as it was live-streamed globally as the event was on in Yenagoa.
“The Governor Diri Scrabble Championship was the focus for scrabble players across the world as it was going on in the Bayelsa capital. We succeeded in introducing technology to positively showcase Bayelsa and the governor’s contribution to human capacity development,” Alabrah stated.
Declaring the tournament closed, Governor Diri, represented by the Commissioner for Sports Development, Dr. Daniel Igali, pledged continued support for the game of scrabble.
He said his administration was committed to holistic sports development and would continue to encourage youths in the state to embrace sports to actualise their potential.
Female winners and players also received special prizes as well as a special presentation by the BSSA chairman of the sum of N200,000 to each of the two scrabble gold medallists at the recent National Sports Festival in Ogun State.