After 36 rounds play and three nerve-shredding days of intense mind-game in a boot camp, former Scrabble champion, Wellington Jighere, reigned supreme at the maiden Scrabble In The Jungle’ series tournament, which ended in Warri at the weekend.
Ten top ranked players and two wild card players were kept in a boot-camp setting in a secluded area of Warri, Delta State. Jighere recorded 21 wins, a draw and 14 defeats to beat his closest opponent, current West African Scrabble champion, Eta Karo, on table one in round 35 with a game to spare to claim the top title.
Prince Omosefe came second, Enoch Nwali, Eta Karo and Emmanuel Umujose came third, fourth and fifth respectively. One of the wildcard entries, Victor Godwin, posted an encouraging result to finish sixth ahead of some top-rated stars, including Dennis Ikekeregor, Oshevire Avwenagha, Ryan Jacob and Nigeria’s number one, Etim Nsikak.
At the end of the event, prizes and certificates were presented to deserving participants.
Organiser of the competition, who is also president, Scrabble Las Vegas, Musa Olasupo, said he is impressed with the success of the event.
“It has been a highly exhaustive three days, I mean it has been a high octane scrabble since Friday. We can say boldly that we held the scrabble world spellbound. Everybody glued to our whatsapp Channels and live video transmission to monitor high octave first class competitive scrabble.
“For us, it is a promise delivered. Our hope is to be able to build on this and ensure that we create more excitement, bring more variations and continue to build this model.”
