The Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) has released the details for the invitation of players that will compete in the qualifiers for the World English-Language Scrabble Players (WESPA) Championship, taking place in Las Vegas, United States, from July 22–26.
The NSF revealed in a circular sent out by the federation’s technical director, Mr. John Curtis, that the invitation for the qualifiers to represent Nigeria will be extended to the top 20 players as indicated by the current National Scrabble ratings as of the January 22 ratings cut-off date.
Also, the invitation will go out to the wildcards, which will consist of the top 3 female players as indicated by the released ratings and any other players the federation finds worthy of being potential winners.
The governing body of scrabble in Nigeria also proposed that players who have been inactive in the scrabble community in the past six months are not eligible to participate in the qualification process, regardless of their ranking.
In terms of eligibility, the players invited must be NSF-licensed for the 2022–2023 season and must have played a minimum of 40 rated games from January 1 until the ratings cut-off date. The invitees must possess an international travel passport valid until March 30, 2024, and are required to submit the data page before January 25..
The publishing of the list of invited players will begin on the 23rd of January, with the players expected to arrive at the venue for the qualifiers on or before January 25.
The competition for places on team Nigeria at the WESPAC will be held over three days from January 26–28, with a total of 30 games played across this period with 25 minutes allotted to each player per game or round.
The qualifying rounds will be rated and governed by NSF and WESPA tournament rules, with the best-placed player selected automatically to represent the country.
The players that occupy the second to fifth positions and the highest-rated female player after the completion of the qualifying tournament will be selected, but with a condition—that they fall within the top 10 national ratings—as a higher-rated player will be afforded preference.
Also, the circular explained that the NSF holds the power to include or dismiss any players, irrespective of the above ordinances.
