Willy Mwangi is keen to reclaim the East, Central and Southern Africa Scrabble Championships (ECASA) title in April after four years in the cold.
Mwangi, who won his maiden title at the last World English Scrabble Players Association Championships and East, Central, and Southern Africa Championships qualifiers in Bondo, said he is keen to recapture the title he last won in 2019.
Mwangi won the regional title way back in 2017 and wants it back now that the event will be staged in Nairobi, where he last won it.
“This is a good comeback and I want to reclaim my title six years down the line,” said Mwangi who won the Bondo qualifying round to earn a slot for the two international events.
In the regional show, Mwangi will team up with 25 other Kenyan players to retain the overall title.
Allan Oyende was the top Kenyan at the championships held last year in Jinja, Uganda.
“I have been practicing a lot and trying to understand English words. I have been making sure that I remain a friend to the English scrabble dictionary and this win is good for me since I last won in 2019 in Mombasa,” he said.
With the conclusion of qualifiers, he finished in position six with 51 points and was joined by Oyende, Michael Gongolo, Philip Mutinda, Nderitu Gitonga and Martins Mutahi for the Las Vegas journey to the USA for WESPAC in August. Former chairman Bernard Amuke, Manase Otieno and Richard Oketch are reserved players.
The qualifiers kicked off in Nyahururu, where Gitonga was the champion and was followed by Nairobi, Standard Chartered and Kitui, which were won by Oyende.
With Kenya hosting ECASA, the top 25 players in the qualifiers will automatically play at the championships that will be staged in Nairobi in next month’s Easter Holidays.
