Photos: Nigerian becomes first African to win English-Language World Scrabble Championship

Cowboy-hat wearing Wellington Jighere of Nigeria crushed his English opponent 4-0 at the World Scrabble Championship in Australia to become the first African to bag the word game’s global title.

Jighere, 32, was among more than 120 competitors who travelled to Perth for the World English-language Scrabble Players’ Association Championship, which culminated in Sunday’s best-of-seven final against England’s Lewis Mackay.

The Nigerian used such high-scoring words as “fahlores”, “avouched” and “mentored” on his way to victory. But Jighere remained modest, noting: “Nigel is still the master. It just happens that today was my day.”

New Zealander Nigel Richards dominates English-language Scrabble, with three world championships, five North American titles and 11 wins at the prestigious King’s Cup in Thailand.

Richards stunned the francophone world in July when he also won the game’s French version even though he doesn’t speak the language and only spent nine weeks studying the official Scrabble dictionary.

Jighere, an unemployed university graduate who has just finished his national youth service, went into the championship as a two-time African champion. [AFP]