SCRABBLE: NSF Inter Club Championship grand finale gets underway in Abuja
By Maxwell Kumoye
The race for the NSF Inter Club Championship diadem enters the final stage today with the start of games in the grand finale at the banquet hall of Hotel de Bentley in Utako-district, Abuja.
Nine of the biggest Scrabble Clubs in Nigeria are in the race for the over a million naira prize money as well as the bragging right of NSF CLUB KING.
The draw of the grand finale was conducted on Thursday by the Technical Director of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) John Curtis. He was assisted by three legends of the game of words in Nigeria, former World Champion and two time African Champion, Wellington Jighere, current African Champion, Enoch Tochukwu Nwali and Champion of Champions and double National Sports Festival gold medalist, Olatunde Oduwole assisted John Curtis.
The brief and exciting draw was witnessed by the entire delegates of the NSF Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The 9 teams have been divided into three groups of three teams each.
Group 1, South Side Scrabble Club of Kaduna, Yenagua Scrabble Club of Bayelsa and Pyramid A Scrabble Club of Lagos.
Group 2, has been described as the zone of ‘death, danger, destruction’ and equally intriguing. Warri SC, Ibadan SC and Apex SC of Abuja.
Another deadly group is group 3, with Benin City Scrabble Club led by Prince Omosefe, Ikorodu SC and Centre Scrabble Club of Abuja.
The top two teams in each of the group zoom into the quarter finals while the two best third placed teams from any of the three groups also advance to the last eight.
Six matches will be played today. The Inter Club Scrabble Championship, it’s 20 minutes per game for each player, 10 games in the round robin stage, 5 in the quarter and semi finals each and 5 in the third placed and final each.
Here are the Pairings:
Benin SC vs CSC Abuja
South Side vs Pyramid A
Apex vs Warri SC
Ikorodu SC vs Benin SC
Pyramid A vs Yenagua SC
Warri SC vs Ibadan SC
THE JOURNEY TO ABUJA
The NSF Inter Club Championship which which went into a very long coma after the 2014 edition was revived last year and 35 Clubs from 23 States started the journey to the grand finale in Abuja.
The quest to reach Abuja for the grand finale started with the Intra-state to Inter-state, then the zonal finals which produced 12 Clubs. But three teams could not make it to the grand finale.
North West – 1
North Central – 2
South West – 3
South South – 3
Lagos Pyramid Scrabble Club are the Defending Champions of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation Inter Club Championship.
THE CLOSING EVENT
On Sunday night, the week long Scrabble Festival will come to a befitting close with the Awards and Gala Night at the same venue.
The Awards and Gala Night which is the icing on the cake, as it’s name suggest will be used by the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), to reward and recognize players, coaches, administrators and sponsors who have distinguished themselves since the current board under the stewardship of Engineer Toke Aka, was elected and inaugurated in 2021.
Key events yet to be decided at the festival:
✓ Friday 24th – Sunday 26th March – NSF Inter Club Championship grand finale
✓ Sunday 26th March – Award and Gala Night
