…Jighere and Etim in top ten after 16 games as Nwali climbs 62 places
By Maxwell Kumoye and Mishael Emmanuel
Members of Team Nigeria at the ongoing Scrabble World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA are giving a good account of themselves and the country as the competition enters day 3 later today.
Former World Champion, Wellington Jighere with 14 wins is running a neck to neck race with USA’s Will Anderson who is topping the chart after Day 2 because of a higher cumulative.
Jighere is occupying the second spot while Nsikakabasi Solomon Etim with 11 wins from 16 games is the other member of Team Nigeria in the top ten with host America having a player more than Nigeria in that bracelet.
Alec Sjoholm of the United States, England’s Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Thacha Koowirat from Thailand,
Nigeria born Samson Okosagah playing for United States and Russell Honeybun of Australia are all on 12 wins each but separated by cumulative points.
The second chasing pack has Canada’s Matthew Tunnicliffe, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard of the United States, Nigeria’s Nsikak Solomon Etim, Chris Lipe of United States, Andrew Fisher from Australia and Canada’s Joshua Castellano have 11 victories each
Emmanuel Ofidi, Olatunde Oduwole, Prince Osahon Omosefe and Temituoyo Mayuku are closing down on the board leaders with 10 wins each while Olawale Fashina, Dipo Akanbi, Dennis Ikekeregor and Enoch Nwali are jamming back and hard on 9 wins.
Current African Champion and King of Governor Diri National Championship, Enoch Nwali who started Day 2 at number 96 ended the day at 34th spot after recording 6 wins out of 8 games played. The Health Education Student of the University of Lagos is now on 9 wins overall.
The leader of Team Nigeria delegation and President of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Engineer Olobatoke Aka is very confident that Day 3 of the Championship will push more Nigerians toward the top end.
“It’s tough out there. The positions at the end of today’s games will determine the outcome, we shall know if we have a shot at the World Championship title.” The NSF President said.
This is Africa’s best individual standing after Day 2:
Jighere – Nig – 2nd
Addo-Quaye – Gha – 75th
Gruzd – SA – 76th
King – SL – 77th
Mpundu – Zam – 91st
Akinyi – Ken – 97th
Ntege – Uga -103rd
134 Players drawn from 29 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and North America are participating in the Championship.
