National champion, Olatunde Oduwole, yesterday upsets World Number 4 ranked former world champion, Wellington Jighere, to win the Champion of Champions Championships scrabble championship in Benin City.
For his efforts, Oduwole was rewarded with the star prize of N500,000 and a giant trophy. Douglas Ese won the youth event.
At the three-day event which held inside the multi-purpose hall of Prestige Hotel, 44 players battled for honours in the winner-takes-all championship.
Speaking after his epic victory, Oduwole admitted that it was a tough final game against Jighere.
“It was a crunchy final but I had better tiles to decide the game. I was very lucky to have won,” stressed Oduwole.
“It’s not easy playing against a world champion. We’ve met on different occasions and its anybody who wins that decides the tournament. I could have lost today (Sunday) but I won because I was destined to win and not because I did anything extraordinary.”
On the standard of the competition, Oduwole added, “It was a marvelous championship with very stiff opposition.
“I struggled from Table 17 and 16 at some point and thought it was all gone. But I crawled to the fore of the event and I maintained my position to win.”
President, Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Olabatoke Aka, expressed delight at the height the sport had attained globally.
Chairman of Edo State Sports Commission, Godwin Dudu-Orumen, who was a special guest on the final day of the competition, said, “We are proud of the Champion of Champions competition.
“Scrabble produces good people, sound minds in sound bodies. We (Edo State) will take the sport to schools, starting from secondary schools, and we will continue to support the sport.”
