Pakistan to host scrabble’s world championship: PSA

Karachi: Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) and Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Quetta Gladiators Tuesday announced it would host WESPA Championship 2021 in which more than 100 top scrabble players from 23 English-speaking countries would participate.

The championship starts from November 20.

“Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions, the world scrabble championship will be played online”, Nadeem Omar, President Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) and owner of PSL franchise Quetta Gladiators, told a news conference in Karachi on Tuesday.

On the occasion, a seven-member Pakistani scrabble contingent led by former national champion Waseem Khatri was also announced. The other players are Hasham Hadi Khan, Ali Salman, Saim Waqar, Usman Shaukat and Basil Khan.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between PSA and Pharmevo, the lead sponsor of the championship, which will provide venue as well as technical facilities for the championship.

Nadeem said scrabble was a more popular game than cricket in the world. "Even in Pakistan more kids are playing scrabble than cricket," he added.

“We have produced several world champions in scrabble but people are not aware of our achievements in this game. Pakistan is going to host the scrabble world cup, which is a bigger event then the T20 world cup as it will be watched in more nations than cricket,” Nadeem added.

He said that 8000 Euros had been raised for the championship which would be distributed among the finalists of the tournament.

Director Youth Program of the Pakistan Scrabble Championship Tariq Pervaiz said having successfully organised two youth world championships, Pakistan had became the only country in the world to be chosen as the host for three consecutive world championships.