Nigerian bags World Scrabble title

Cowboy-hat wearing Wellington Jighere from Nigeria crushed his English opponent 4-0 at the World Scrabble Championship in Australia to become first African to bag the word game’s global title.

Mr Jighere (32) was among more than 120 competitors who travelled to Perth for the World English-language Scrab-ble Players’ Association Championship, which culminated in Sunday’s best-of-seven final against England’s Lewis Mackay.

“He had to battle for four days to emerge on top but once he got there — maybe he was a little fresher, or got a bit of luck — everything fell into place for him and he won four-nil,” Adam Kretschmer, one of the organisers of the event, told AFP of Mr Jighere’s effort.

The Nigerian used such high-scoring words as “fahlores”, “avouched” and “mentored” as he puzzled his way to victory.

“It is the first time that an African has won in these world championships,” Mr Jighere told The Guardian after the win. But he conceded: “Nigel is still the master. It just happens that today was my day.” It was a reference to New Zealander Nigel Richards who dominates English-language Scrabble, with three world championships, five Nort-h American titles and 11 wins at the prestigious King’s Cup in Thailand, sponsored by the Thai royal family.

On Facebook, Mr Jighere said the Perth tournament — in which each player had played 32 games over four days before the finalists were decided — had been exhausting.

“I really must endeavour to rest now,” he posted late Sunday. “I’ve not slept well in about a week. The fact that I was able to perform in spite of the sleeplessness still baffles me. It only goes to prove that God was deeply involved in this matter.”

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari telephoned Mr Jighere to congratulate him while the head of the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, Suleiman Gora, described the victory as “the climax” for him.