BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The finals of the maiden edition of the ongoing Scrabble and Chess Championship at the Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Catholic Church, Clegg, Surulere-Lagos, will be held on Sunday November 10, 2024.
The parish sporting event, organized in honour of the late Sir & Lady J.U Obiorah, who until their demise were ardent and foundational parishioners, who contributed immensely towards the growth and development of the parish, will take place inside the Church premises during the Bazaar.
Speaking exclusively with this writer, the team lead/ coordinator of the committee Mr. Ikenna Obiliki, confirmed this and also noted that the role which the late couple played towards the growth of the parish is the reason for using the event to immortalize them.
He further informed that the event which will also seek to discover young talents in the area of strategic skills and reasoning will be in two categories. The first category will be for those within the ages of 9-11years while the second category will be for those from 12-16 years of age.
In the finals of the Scrabble event, George Ezike, Emmanuel Ezike, Ebube Ezeimo and Philip Makanjuola will slug it out on the hot seats, while John Ezeani, Chisom Eze, Victor Nwabueze, Kevin Nwabueze, David Chukwuyenru and Gerald Ezinwa will contest in the finals of Chess event.
Obiliki also confirmed that cash gifts will be given to winners in all of the categories, but he was also quick to add that the organizers are open to welcoming additional support which will make the maiden edition a landmark event.
The game of Chess has been known globally for building confidence, improving concentration, aid in problem solving, creativity and encouraging sportsmanship while Scrabble plays a significant role in building vocabulary, creativity, memory retention, spelling improvement amongst others.
Both games are encouraged in over 40 Nigerian Universities, with some notable universities in the country giving admission and scholarships to students to enable them become assets for the institution during the NUGA Games and other continental University Games.
