Umebiye wins South-west scrabble championship

Cyril Umebiye has won the South-west Closed Scrabble Championship held in Abeokuta. 

Umebiye, a former national scrabble captain, put up a quality performance to maintain a 100 per cent record of six wins in the first period of the 12-round tournament.  

Hakeem Olaribigbe of Lagos State took the second position, while Dipo Akanbi earned the third place. 

Speaking after the game, Umebiye said: “It’s been a while since I won a tournament… going to almost two to three years now. The terrain is tough in Nigeria, even if it was a 10-man retreat, its always difficult to win. I just thank God for this title.

“I am dedicating this Southwest Closed Scrabble Tournament trophy to my wife because she always challenged and encouraged me to win whenever I attend a tournament,” Umebiye said. 

He added: “The level of competition was really, high, especially with the addition of tertiary students, who have moved up in rankings in a short time. They have enough time on their hands for preparations.

“Their transition from the Opens to the intermediate and Masters is mostly not more than a year or two.”

In other categories of the championship, Tunde Saporu from Ogun State won the intermediate category and was fourth overall, while Bukunmi Afolayan, also from Ogun State, picked the Best Women’s title, just as Collins Okafor and Olabode Olabiyi won the Opens and Veterans categories respectively. 

Elated by the outcome of the competition, South-West Zonal Coordinator, Emmanuel Egbelle, said the organisation was amazing, adding, “good playing hall, hotels, food and choosing Abeokuta for this year’s tournament made it possible for some of the players to see the city for the first time.”

He said: “We started preparations for this event immediately after