Tough battle looms ahead in WYSC Visayas qualifying

CEBU, Philippines - All the participants are in for a tough competition in the first ever Visayas qualifying of the World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) set on February 20-21 at the HRM Laboratory of the University of the Visayas (UV).

National Scrabble Association of the Philippines (NASCAP) president Engr. Robin Rubina said he really want to make sure that the winners are worthy enough for the great opportunity waiting for them.

“I want to make it sure that the winners will be the best from the Cebu or even in the Visayas because they may form part of the Philippine delegation for the 5th World Youth Scrabble Championships that will be hosted by the Philippines for the very first time,” said Rubina.

“Aside from that, I would like the players to be aware how competitive playing scrabble is because scrabble is not only a hobby and not merely playing words but this would test and challenge the mathematical and analytical skills of the players,” he added.

The Visayas qualifying is an individual tournament with a clause for school team results. Players from the Visayas region aged 17 years old as of January 31, 2010 are qualified to join.

The two-day tilt follows the 13 games King-of-the-Hill (KOTH) with no repeats format or no repetition of opponent.

The top five finishers will receive cash, medals and tokens, while the top three schools will receive medals.

The champion will receive P1, 500, while the second and third placers will get P1, 000 and P800, respectively.

Also, the top five players may form part of the Philippine team to 5th World Youth Scrabble Championship on December 8-10 in Manila .

“It’s a great honor and pride for us that we will be hosting this prestigious international scrabble championship. We already have the venue and were still looking for sponsors so that we could come up with P350, 000 cash prize for the winners,” Rubina said.

Registration fee is pegged at P150 for each individual student coming from the same school, while P180 will be assessed for those individual students with less than four players and out-of-school youth.

For further information, one may keep in touch with Marsha Malbas at 0918-5001314 or Engr. Ted Martus Jr. at 0922-5067956. – Marigold P. Lebumfacil   (FREEMAN NEWS)