Nigeria Will Retain African Scrabble Title Despite Player Exodus – Adegbesan

Adekoyejo Adegbesan, president of the Pan African Scrabble Association, has expressed confidence that Nigeria will keep the African Scrabble Championship title, even though the country has lost a number of players who have moved overseas.

Ahead of the 16th edition of the tournament, scheduled for October 22–25 in Monrovia, Liberia, Adegbesan said Nigeria still possesses enough strength to come out on top in Africa. He named Uganda and Kenya as the country’s biggest threats, adding that the race is likely to be among those three nations.

Nigeria has won 14 of the last 15 editions of the championship.

Adegbesan also said Liberia is prepared to host the event. According to him, the Liberian Ministry of Sports has supported the country’s national Scrabble association, including assistance with redesigning the championship banner and putting the event together.

Meanwhile, PANASA has announced an extra registration pathway for players who were not selected through their national qualifying processes.
Such players must submit applications approved by their national Scrabble associations or federations, and cannot register on their own. The entry charge is $300 per player, the same amount required of diaspora players.

PANASA called on national associations to pass the information on to their members.

Adegbesan has been connected with Scrabble since the 1990s. He heads Gateway Scrabble Club in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, and is the most recent former chairman of the Ogun State Scrabble Association.