A national team for the East and Central Africa Scrabble Championships (ECASA) will be named this weekend in Eldoret.
Scrabble Kenya (SK) chairman, Bernard Amuke, said a total of 25 players will be picked ahead of the ECASA tournament set for April 15-16 in Jinja, Uganda.
The Kenya team, also known as 'Word Warriors' will be defending the title after dominating the last few editions.
Kenya One Allan Oyende, Tobias Outi, Michael Gongolo, and Onani Magangwa will spearhead the country's campaign as they seek to retain the title.
Out of the 25 players to be named, five have wildcards and two events have so far been held.
The first event was held in Kitui last month while Kisumu hosted the event this month. Eldoret is the next stop.
“We will pick 25 players to fly the country's flag and the Eldoret event will be the last in our national series ahead of the Jinja show,” said Amuke.
At a meeting held at the Gulab Lochab Academy, Amuke said for any player to make the team, he or she must have featured in at least three national tournaments.
"Of course, we have those players with wildcards but the rest will be picked on merit," he noted.
Defending champion Gitonga Nderitu is among the players who were handed wildcards. "He had requested for the chance due to work commitment,” said Amuke.
Others, who earned the wildcard include, Robins Mugaki based in the United States of America, Rwanda-based Jared Omollo, Kenya’s fifth seed Francis Wachira, who has been sick, and one top student from a university.
The chairman, however, called on sponsors to come to the team's rescue ahead of the tournament. “We have been doing this without a sponsor but we are hoping this time, we shall get one. If we don’t then we shall be forced to foot our bills as individuals,” he said.
