Nigeria maintained her dominance on the continent as Oluwatimilehin Doko emerged as the winner of the 15th African Scrabble Championship concluded yesterday at Kigali, Rwanda.
The four-day continental showpiece witnessed duels on the board of 32 rounds among ten participating countries which were Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana,Gambia, Mauritius, Zambia, South Africa, Cameroon and Uganda.
At the end of the contest, seven Nigerians ended at the top ten of the championship.
Doko, who won the West African Scrabble Championship in 2023, stole the show, added a new feather to his cap, winning the championship with one round left, receiving praise from his admirers.
The 24-year-old’s journey to the victory was marked by hurdles as he began his round with a victory over Godwin Murungi of Uganda, 487-423 with a spread of 64 point margin, finishing with seven wins from 8 games to end day one.
He sustained the momentum, defeating his counterpart. Abdulmumin Jimoh, 497-420, in a 57 point margin spread. The victory pushed Doko to table 1 in round 13 where he kept the tempo to finish the next 19 rounds to win the championship.
Before playing round 32, Doko outclassed Abdulmumin Jimoh with a winning margin of 152 points, ending 574-422 with a game to spare, recording 24 wins and a huge 2082 cumulative points.
This is the 14th time a Nigerian is winning the championship, Oluwatimilehin Doko’s club mate, Enoch Nwali won the competition two years ago in Lusaka, Zambia at the expense of another Nigerian Wellington Jighere.
