Sports

Scrabble: National number one player, Nsikak Etim set to light up Toke Aka Jubilee Championship

...Organisers to offer free accommodation to first 20 players to register for the event

By Maxwell Kumoye

Current national number one scrabble player, Nsikak Etim, has indicated his readiness to compete for honours at the inaugural Engineer Toke Aka National Jubilee Scrabble Championship holding in Abuja next month.

The former African Scrabble Champion told your authoritative news channel, FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG on Monday that, he hopes to be in Abuja for the unique and historic event that is attracting the heavyweights in the game of scrabble to the nation’s capital.

“I don’t just attend competitions, I selected the best that suits my time, schedule and plans for my training program towards the World Championship in July in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and the Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee Championship fits the bill just like the Bayelsa National Open,” Nsikak Etim said.

Etim, a multiple National Sports Festival gold medalist and winner of two major national championships last year, the South South Open in Asaba and Bayelsa Open in Yenagoa has been seating comfortably on the top spot of NSF national rating for over 16 weeks uninterrupted since January 29th.

To move to the top in January during the World Championship qualifiers in Sapele in Delta State, South-South of Nigeria, Nsikak Etim made a superlative run of 12 games unbeaten to secure 222 ranking pionts.

“The Engineer Toke Aka National Jubilee Championship and the Bayelsa National Open Championship are two events that will help my build up and preparation towards the World Championship in july.” Etim added.

In his last outing at the Deaconess Florence Abosede Ojofeitimi Memorial Scrabble Classic, the Port Harcourt based wordsmith finished in the third spot on the podium.

And in a bid to encourage massive turn out of players at both the Jubilee Special Retreat and the Jubilee National Championship, the Scribe of the Organizing Committee who is also the Secretary General of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Mrs. Ejiro Thukson, says the Organizing Committee is offering the first twenty players who register for any of the two competition free accommodation during the event.

Mrs. Thukson, further explained that, nice and pocket friendly accommodations are available at the Moshood Abiola Stadium Abuja and the National Institute of Sports as well as Hotel De Bentley, venue of the National Scrabble Championship.

The Chief Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee Special Scrabble Retreat comes up on the 15th of June at the Zalika Garden, Garki, in Abuja and it’s an all comers Retreat while the NSF President’s Diamond Jubilee National Championship has been fixed for the 17th of June at Hotel De Bentley also in Abuja. The Championship has three categories, Masters, Intermediate and Veterans.

The Technical Director of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), John Curtis, says the one day National Championship is a 12 rounds of games event, 1 random, 8 lagged and 3 King of the hill pairings with each player having 20 minutes per game and the 2021 Collins Scrabble Words dictionary will be the reference material.

Curtis, explained that, the Special Scrabble Retreat is an 8 rounds of games all comers event with no catchment rating points.

To compete in the Masters event, a player must have 1,300 and above rating catchment points. The Intermediate rating catchment is 1,299 rating points and below.

The Veterans event has no rating catchment requirement.

The NSF Technical Director, stated that, the Masters event participants will pay 8,000 naira only while players wishing to battle for honours in the Intermediate and Veterans categories are expected to register with 6,000 naira each.

We also gathered that registration for the Special Scrabble Retreat which attracts a token fee of 3,000 naira and the registration closes on the 14th of next month, late registration will not be entertained.

The closing date for registration for players seeking to be part of the Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee National Championship is the 15th of June.

The two-in-one event is open for sponsorship, partnership as well as donations.

The Chairman of the Organizing Committee also explained that a Special Denominational Service and dinner for the Jubilee Celebration and Tournament has been fixed for the 16th of June at the Hotel De Bentley too.

Chief Engineer Toke Aka Jubilee celebration timeline:

✓ Players registration for both Jubilee Retreat and Jubilee National Championship is already on

✓ Registration for Jubilee Retreat closes June 14th

✓ Jubilee Retreat holds June 15th at Zalika Garden, Garki, Abuja

✓ Registration for Jubilee National Championship closes June 15th

✓ Denominational Service and dinner holds June 16th at Hotel De Bentley, Abuja

✓ Jubilee National Championship – June 17th

✓ Departure of players and guests – June 18th

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