World Scrabble Championship: Wellington Jighere ends in fourth spot

Nigeria’s hopes of claiming both the individual and team titles at the Wellington Jighere in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, have come to an end as Match Day 4 concluded with former World Champion, Wellington Jighere, finishing in fourth place.

For the past three days, Jighere had dominated the tournament and stayed on top of the table. However, in the final two rounds of games, he suffered consecutive defeats to Adam Logan of Canada and David Eldar of Australia.

With these setbacks, Jighere, the 2015 World Champion, missed out on qualifying for the best of 7 final, which was scheduled for Wednesday. Ultimately, he secured 22 wins out of 32 games, finishing the championship in the fourth position.

The best of 7 final will now see David Eldar, a former World Champion from Australia, facing Harshan Lamabadusuriya of England.

Lamabadusuriya, making his first appearance in a World Championship final, won one game more than Jighere, while Eldar reached the final with 22 wins and a draw.

Among Nigeria’s top performers at the end of the World Championship were Nsikak Solomon Etim at number 14, Enoch Nwali at number 17, Tuoyo Mayuku at the 25th spot, and Eta Karo at number 35.

Ghana’s highest-ranked player was Charles Haizel Tachie-Menson at number 8, and Patrick Mulemena Mpundu of Zambia secured the 65th position as the best player from Southern Africa. Steven Gruzd topped South Africa’s chart at number 88, while Chris Ntege, representing Uganda, came 97th, followed by Sierra Leone’s Ibrahim Deen Swaray at 117th place. Wenwa Akinyi emerged as the finest Kenyan player in Las Vegas.

In the team category, the USA emerged victorious, leaving Nigeria and Canada in second and third places, respectively.