Lagos International Scrabble Classics kicks off

Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium will come alive on Friday as the Lagos International Scrabble Classics kicks off.
All the top players from United States, England, Scotland, Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya will be in action on Friday in the masters//international category for the star prize of N1.2 million ($8,000).
According to the organisers, nine of the 28 games will be concluded on the first day while 19 games will be played at the weekend.
The players will compete in three categories – masters/international, intermediate and opens in their bid to be part of the N4.8 million prize money.
All the participants concluded their accreditation on Thursday, with all the matches kicking off on Friday.
Winners in the intermediate and opens categories will get N.5 million and N1 million respectively, while the top 10 players will get cash reward.
According to the Chairman, Lagos State Scrabble Association, Dayo Alao, the tournament would also help the local players as they are expected to compete with their foreign counterparts.
Among the top players expected at the competition are Nigeria-born United States’ Sammy Okosagah, a two-time winner of the Akpabio tournament, as well as Nigeria-born Scotland Lukmon Owolabi.
Also, a special invitational category for professionals, who are expected to pay participation fee of N50,000, will be part of the event, with the proceeds going into a developmental programme.
“We are not only looking at the tournament alone, but to look at how we can develop the sport at grassroots level and that is why we will be having the special category for captains of industry with the proceeds from the participation fee going into a developmental programme in schools. The winner of this division will decide the school that will benefit from the initiative. For us, we are trying to encourage support from this professionals,” Alao said.
The dictionary for the championship will be Collins CSW12 only.