By Maxwell Kumoye
Two more teams have secured their passage into the grand finale of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation Inter Club Championship scheduled to hold in Abeokuta the Ogun State capital next month.
The two teams, Apex Scrabble Club Abuja and Jos SC punched their tickets into the finals from the North Central Zonal Play-Off concluded over the weekend at the Zalika Garden, Abuja after two days of 20 grueling rounds of games with five clubs in attendance.
Apex Scrabble Club that parades multiple National Sports Festival gold medalist Jimoh Abdulmumin, 2023 winner of the MGI Pratons Cup, Anthony Odok, Oyebola and the Ebomah brothers Peter and John Curtis were just too hot to handle.
They won all their four matches against Central Scrabble Club Abuja A, B and C as well as Jos SC, winning a combined 16 rounds, 67 games with a plus 4160 cumulative points.
Abdulmumin and Odok fresh from the African Games camp made light walk of the 25 man field. Both players recorded 14 wins each just like Peter Ebomah. John Curtis picked 13 wins from 20 rounds of games while Oyebola Alli the weakest link in the team, secured 12 victories to give Apex Scrabble Club the top spot.
Jos SC fondly called Rock Solid Jammers, booked their place in the National finals next month by beating Central Scrabble Club Abuja A, B and C teams. Winning 11 rounds, 54 games and a cumulative of plus 1211 points.
A member of Team Nigeria to the last West African Scrabble Championship (WASC), Negro Igbinadolor was the arrow head of the Rock Solid Jammers, he accounted for 27.7 percentage games won by Jos SC with 15 on the buns.
Alhassan Shaibu was two wins shy of Negro Igbinadolor who was firing from all cylinders, Henry Nwosu and Benjamin Isa garnered 9 wins each while Tunde Ayeni ended Zonal Play-Off with just 8 wins and a minus 425 points.
It’s imperative to state that, Team A of Central Scrabble Club Abuja, that has in it’s arsenal the imperial and rejuvenated Olobatoke Aka, rough and rugged rider, Eugene Okim, Friday Ogbonyomi, Christopher Nnamani and Emeka Ekwenugo missed the mark during the Play-Off with just two matches won.
Despite the sterling performance and a high of 17 wins, plus 1347 cumulative points of Olobatoke Aka, Team A Central Scrabble Club Abuja fell flat to Apex Scrabble Club and Jos SC while they over ran Team B and C of Central Club.
Two match won with a combined cumulative of plus 2011 points, 14 rounds went in their favour with 57 percent game winning ratio is the statistics of Team A Central Scrabble Club Abuja.
Central Scrabble Club Abuja Team B recorded one win, 6 rounds, 40 games won while Team C was first from the rear without a victory to it’s name, 3 rounds, 32 games wins and a minus 4688 cumulative points.
Kaduna Central Scrabble Club were the team to pick their ticket to the finals of the NSF Inter Club Championship after brushing aside South Side Scrabble Club to pick the Northwest slot last month.
They secured their passage into the much awaited finals with the help of Sadiq Abubakar, Baba Adamu, Suraj Aminu, Orkuma Gideon, Abdulsalam Abdulkadir and Attahiru Abdullahi at the expense of South Side Scrabble Club also of Kaduna at the weekend after a titanic battle at the Jollywood Gardens, Sabon Tasha.
Despite the efforts of Danjuma Idris, Donatus Idogbe, Adeka Akochi, Odunayo Wellington, Bathlomew Okafor, Jonathan Sani and Neino Jonathan the South Side failed to click.
Anambra Scrabble Club, the sole entrance from the South East are also through to the national NSF Inter Club Championship finals.
South West and South South are the two Zones yet to decide their Play-Offs.
Warri Scrabble Club that parades the like of famous wordsmith, Emmanuel Umujose, winner of the PANASA President’s Cup Godwin Victor, Daystar Atti, Jacob Tone, Etuwa Larry, Akpojotor Ochuko and Peremor Ekpesaba are the defending champions of the NSF Inter Club Championship.
The technical director of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, John Curtis, told Zeal Masters that 13 clubs from over 13 states of the Federation and Nigeria Police are participating in this year’s event.
