Participants in the individual and team events of the West African Scrabble Championship (WASC) billed to hold in Lagos from November 22 to 26, 2023, will share from the $12, 000 prize money, the organisers have said.
According to the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Lagos was selected to host the biggest sub-regional scrabble tournament in Africa ahead of Benin City and Abuja.
Five countries, namely Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and host, Nigeria, will participate in the event, where each of the participating countries, except Nigeria, will present 15 players. Nigeria, as host, is allowed to feature 20 players at the three-day competition.
Speaking on the competition, the WASC’s Technical Director, John Curtis, who doubles as the chairman of the Technical and Tournament Logistics sub-committee, explained that the West Africa Championship is a 28-game event featuring one random, 22 lagged and five king of the hill pairings.
Also speaking on the event, Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) President, Toke Aka, who is heading the Main Organising Committee (MOC), said details of the various sub-committees and venue for the event would be announced later this week.
Eta Karo of Nigeria is the defending champion in the WASC individual category, while Nigeria holds the team event trophy it won in Accra, Ghana, last year.
The complete list of Team Nigeria to the Championship will be known on November 14. The defending champion Eta Karo gets an automatic ticket to the event, while 14 others will make the list based on the national ranking and five wild cards will be selected by NSF.