By Maxwell Kumoye
One of the teams that gave a good account of its participation at the just concluded African Scrabble Championship (ASC), in Kigali, Rwanda — Team Gambia are full of thoughtful words for the Gambia Government and their Sponsors for making their voyage to the ‘Land of Thousands Hills’ possible.
The ten-man Team Gambia led by the president of its Scrabble Federation, Njie Ebou, came 5th in the team event at the end of four days enervating competition which is a massive leap from their last outing in Lusaka, Zambia in 2022 made possible by Dr. Abba Hydara the former president of GSF.
In the individual category, five Gambians made it to the top 50 at the end of the continental Championship that had 92 participants from 11 countries in attendance.
27 – Maju Bah
31 – Omar Jah
37 – Salifu Jabang
44 – Richard Sock
46 – Njie Ebou
The Scribe of the Gambia Scrabble Federation (GSF), Ousman Conteh, told your authoritative and award-winning news channel FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG shortly on arrival back to ‘The Smiling Coast of Africa’ that the scrabble community in Gambia is very elated that they made the trip to Kigali and gave a good account of themselves.
Ousman Conteh said that the trip would have been a mirage without the backing of the Gambia Government, through the National Sport Council under the Ministry of Youths and Sports led by the dynamic and proactive Bakary Badgie.
The Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Mrs Njie and the deputy permanent secretary, Lamin Camara were pillars of huge support to the team.
“We are grateful to the Gambia Revenue Authority that ensured that funds were made available for the contingent to make the long journey to the East Africa State for Africa’s flagship scrabble event.”
It’s imperative to mention that the Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), Yankuba Darbo, as well as Alagie Mbye, Mustapha Jeng and Modou Marong, all of the GRA were burning candles at both ends in order to airlift Team Gambia to the African Scrabble Championship.
FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG, understands that lack of funds prevented Gambia from attending the last World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and they could only send five players to the last West African Scrabble Championship in Lagos, Nigeria.
As a result of this, the corporate bodies in the Gambia and the Gambia Government backed Scrabble Team Gambia financially to Kigali.
“As we begin our build up for the MGI World Championship and the World English Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC), in Accra, Ghana next year we shall be calling on the likes of Ngoneh Paneh of Ebrima and Paneh Enterprise, Mr. Hamidu Jah of Jah oil company, TOURAY KUNDA Enterprise, Mr. Alagie Jallow and Mr. Momodou Sowe of M. Sowe clearing Agency including Pita Gabbidon who threw their weight behind us,” Conteh said.
The preparations for the two World Championships for Team Gambia begins this month with the Mid-Month Tournament scheduled for the 16th and 17th at the New Scrabble Center at Brushibi. It’s a 20 rounds of games competition. 16 Swiss and 4 King of the Hill pairings.
During the last West African Scrabble Championship in Lagos, Nigeria Richard Sock of the Gambia stopped Nigeria from taking the top ten positions as he came 10th.
Ousman Conteh further emphasized that, Muhammed Jawla, the Acting Director of the National Sports Council is a very dependable friend of Gambia Scrabble and they cherish his help and support during their preparation and departure for the just concluded African Scrabble Championship.