The Sri Lanka Scrabble League concluded the Southern Zonal championship in its inaugural domestic zonal tournament in Galle recently. The tournament was conducted at the Co-operative Training Centre in Galle and was organized in collaboration with the Southern Province Scrabble league, with the participation of 90 children.
The chief guest on the occasion was Richmond college Deputy Principal Mr Piyasiri Kumarage.
The next leg of the Word Power tournament will be held in Kandy in May.
The winner in the Under 13 category was Kalpana Seneviratne and in the Under 20 category Sethumi Ransari The large turnout of players was attributed to the interest created in the sport by the good work of the provincial association as well as the recent commendable performances by the National Under 18 team who became world champions for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016. The Wordpower Zonal Challenge will be conducted this year in three legs – namely Southern province, Central & North Western provinces, and Western Province with the final to be played during the year end in Colombo, featuring top players in the provincial tournaments in both age categories. They will play with the under 18 national team members who are preparing for the world youth championship to be held in Malaysia later this year. Over the years, the Scrabble League plans to extend this tournament to other provinces.
Scrabble as a game not only improves one’s word power it also encourages creative thinking, analytical ability and strategy. Considered to be to the second most popular board game in the world, Scrabble is beginning to gain wide acceptance across Sri Lanka with a growing body of young and mature players indulging in the game at a competitive level.
The Sri Lanka Scrabble League has planned a series of new events and tournaments to encourage wider participation. These include several domestic tournaments, an age group and inter school championship and a national championship. Details can be found at www.scrabble.lk.