Africa gets it’s first Scrabble rating system

By Ifeanyi Eduzor

Newly elected President of Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA), Adekoyejo Adegbesan, has fulfilled one of the eleven points in his manifesto to the continent while seeking for their blessing to lead PANASA.
The promise that the PANASA President, Adegbesan has kept is the introduction of a rating system for the continent.
This was made public during the week through PANASA official WhatsApp group which informed scrabble players that they’re introducing for the first time a rating system for PANASA where players will earn ratings from the PANASA sanctioned tournaments.
The first tournament to be rated will be the just concluded Africa Scrabble championship in Lusaka, Zambia noting that it is looking forward to adding more events to the PANASA calendar to make the game more interesting.
According to PANASA, the ratings are just a step towards developing a strong and independent body.
In his manifesto Adekoyejo Adegbesan promised that Africa will be having a rating system for PANASA and he tasked the technical committee to develop a rating and ranking system.
The technical committee stated that the new rating system is not meant to bring confusion but to add some value to the game of words.
“We have a PANASA rating officer who will from time-to-time work with the national rating officers and tournament directors and guide them on how the system works. The PANASA ratings are meant for regional tournaments, Africa Scrabble Championship (ASC) and any other tournament that will be approved for rating under PANASA.” The technical director of PANASA Kennedy Crispine Okeyo said.
The 15th edition of the Africa scrabble championship in 2024 in Freetown, Sierra- Leone will be based on the PANASA ratings. It is an African championship that is also rated by WESPA.
It is interesting to know that other scrabble bodies around the world have their base ratings i.e NASPA, COCO, that is working in tandem with WESPA ratings.
The technical committee is appealing to member associations to support them as they make strides towards making PANASA work.
Technical Director of PANASA, Kennedy Crispine Okeyo, stated that in addition to the ratings, a new ranking system has now been introduced where players can achieve the Continental Expert (CX) badge and the Continental GM (CGM) badge through hard work over the period of 2 years while the continental champion (CC) badge is for those who have been African champion before.
The CC badge will be immediately added to the names of previous and current African champions.
A very elated PANASA President, Adekoyejo Adegbesan fondly called Sheikh has this to say about the new Africa rating and ranking system.
“The new rating system is one of my campaign promises, to give Africa its own continental rating system. Going forward all PANASA events will use the PANASA ratings as guide. We also have the ranking system where players can attain Continental Expert (CX) and Continental Grand Master (CGM) status from their performance over a period of two years. Also the continental champion badge was introduced for all previous and current African scrabble championship.” Adegbesan stated.
Nigeria’s Enoch Tochukwu Nwali the recently crowned African champion is the number one on the new rating system. Another Nigerian and former World Champion Wellington Jighere is number two.
The November rating shows that six Nigerians are in the top ten along with two Kenyans, a Uganda and a Ghanaian.
It will interest you to know that a Nigerian and a seasoned tournament director, Adedeji Khaleel is PANASA rating officer.
Meanwhile, the latest top 10 Africa rating are as follows: Enoch Tochukwu Nwali, Nigeria( 2531 points),
Wellington Jighere, Nigeria (2420 points), Prince Omosefe, Nigeria ( 2336) points, Allan Oyende, Kenya (2279 points )and David Kimani, Kenya (2202 points). Others are; Emmanuel Umujose, Nigeria ( 2168 points ), Eta Paul Karo Nigeria ( 2162 points ), Nsikak Solomon Etim, Nigeria ( 2156 points ), Edgar Odongkara, Uganda ( 2150 points ) and Charles Tachie-Menson, Ghana (2112 points).