IN THE GAMES GH 23: • 13 countries to compete for honours in Scrabble event at the 13th African Games

IN THE GAMES GH 23:

•  13 countries to compete for honours in Scrabble event at the 13th African Games

...We are elated, excited, emotional with scrabble making it's entry into the Games - PANASA President Adegbesan

By Maxwell Kumoye 

 

 

 

Thirteen countries will be participating in the scrabble event at the 13th African Games scheduled to hold in three Ghanaian cities, Accra, Cape Coast and Kumasi from the 8th to 23rd of March 2024.

The list of countries competing in the Scrabble event, which is a demonstration sport at the Games is headed by the number one scrabble playing nation on the continent, Nigeria.

Host, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, South Africa and Zambia will be fighting for honours in the English Scrabble event while Benin Republic, Gabon Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo are battling for the bragging rights in the French Scrabble event.

The President of the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA), Adekoyejo Adegbesan told your authoritative Scrabble News Channel FIRST ZEALMEDIACAST BLOG over the weekend that the scrabble fraternity are looking forward to the historic event.

"This is the first time scrabble will be at the African Games so when the event is declared open on Friday, the 15th of March, at the Alisa Hotel you can tell that it will be an emotional moment for me, for thousands of scrabble players not just in Africa but around the world because it's a dream come.”

Adegbesan noted that, the African Games is our own Olympics and we have made it to the biggest platform and we hope future administration coming after us will get scrabble into the Games proper.

Already the prestigious and classy Alisa Hotel in Accra has been selected to host the scrabble event of the Games.

“We want to make the best of it, we want to document everything we do in Ghana, from our preparations to the Games we want to document it, because we want to show the world that scrabble really is an organized sport, managed better than alot of sports that are supported this days, scrabble being look over.” The PANASA President stated.

We gathered that the Continental Governing Body of the game of words is working toward getting the sport played by over 10 million people world wide either as semi professional or amateur into the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.

“That's a big deal for us, and it's a step in the right direction and we are working toward the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games as part of the bigger goal and picture.” Adekoyejo Adegbesan who is a tech expert stressed.

The scrabble event at the 13th African Games starts on Friday the 15th and ends Sunday the 17th of March.

Besides the African Games event, the Pan African Scrabble Association in collaboration with the Scrabble Association of Ghana (SCAG), are staging a side event tagged African Games Open that will run side by side with the African Games event.

Seventy players from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia have entered for the African Games Open Side Event that has over two thousand five hundred dollars as prize money.

It will interest you to know that Pan African Scrabble Association is now members of Association Of African Sports Confederation.

This development, the Ogun State born administrator believes will give lot of milage, recognitions and visibility and they can start to look at the Commonwealth and African National Olympics Committee Association (ANOCA).

“We are trying to get scrabble into the main stream of sport, we are leaving the stone-age, were the sport was not known. We are no longer the Association without a bank accounts and everything we are now leaving all of that and moving into the main stream of sports, we are trying to rob shoulders with the creme de'la creme of sports on the continent and that's going to be a positive for scrabble.” He added.

He further emphasized that, his administration is working and laying a solid foundation for the game, so that future administrators can build upon.

“It's a busy time for Africa, you know, I leave Accra on the 18th or the 19th, I will be heading back to Nigeria and straight up to Botswana for the East Central and Southern Africa Championship (ECASA), which PANASA is funding 100%. We are the only sponsors of that event and it's aimed at growing scrabble in Botswana and that's what we are pretty much doing in Mauritius, Cape Verde, Malawi and those other countries, we are starting to bring on board Lesotho and Zimbabwe.” He explained.

Besides, the ECASA Championship, two other major international events that has the seal of the Pan African Scrabble Association will be staged in Sierra Leone and The Gambia later in the year.

“It's a good time to be a scrabble player on the continent of Africa, it's a good time to be in the Games and we will make sure that we are building on the foundation that all will be proud of. Scrabble has come to stay, it is already a big deal in Nigeria, we want to replicate that all across Africa.” Adegbesan who is also the chairman of Ogun State Scrabble Association (OSSA), concluded.