Nigeria Scrabble Federation to invite players for World Championship trials

By Ifeanyi Eduzor

The Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), has concluded plans to hold it qualifiers for the forthcoming World Scrabble Championship holding in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in July.
Technical Director, of the Federation (NSF), John Curtis, in a press statement made available to journalists said the top twenty players in the NSF ranking along with three top female players as well as three wild cards will make the list.
He, explained that, the yet to be named host city for the qualifiers may likely be giving additional slots of players even as he stated that the final date for selecting the top 20 NSF ranked players is the 22nd of this month.
It should be noted that for a player to make the list, he or she must have played at least 40 NSF rated games between the 1st and 22nd of January, 2023.
At the end of the three-day qualifiers, the best ten players will be selected to represent ‘Team Nigeria’ at the 4th edition of the World Championship, in the United States from the 22nd-26th of July this year.
The Technical Director further explained that the trials will last for three days with ten games per day and each player has twenty five minutes per game instead of the usual twenty minutes.
Invited players for the qualifiers according to him must have an international passport valid till the 30th of March 2024 and must submit a clean, clear and legible photocopy of the data page of their passport to the Federation on 25th of January.
Invited players are expected to arrive for the qualifiers on the 25th of this month, while the trials begins the next day by 8am. The qualifiers will carry ranking points as it’s an NSF rated event.
Meanwhile, President of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Engineer Toke Aka said that the very best at the end of the grueling trials will be selected based on an indebt summary, analysis, player by player projection, word power and dexterity as well as game strength, coupled with their experience on the board.
“We are going to the World Championship with our top ten who are the best hands in the game. We are not just going to Las Vegas for the individual title, we are also heading there to defend our team title too.” The Hydro-Engineer said.
It was also gathered that inclusion of any female player in the final team selection will not be based on their gender, but by merit.
Current African Champion, Enoch Tochukwu Nwali, came fifth at the last World Championship in Goa, India in 2019.
In 2015, Delta State born, current national number one and recently crowded King of the Jungle, Wellington Jighere, became the first African player to win the World Championship crown. He did that in Australia.