Cebuano word wizard Martus vies for top honors in Malaysia scrabblefest

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu’s pride and RP’s top scrabble player Teodoro Martus will try to improve his rankings as he will see action in the premiere division of the 2nd Iskandar Malaysia World Scrabble Festival beginning today at the Zon Regency Hotel in Johor Baru, Malaysia.

Martus will be joined by two other Cebuano players - Jowar Ayuno and Jose Mari Diamola - who are both products of the University of the Visayas (UV) like him. Ayuno and Diamola will compete in the open category.

Over 200 players from 20 countries are set to take part in the week-long scrabble festival which will commence today with the 9th Causeway Scrabble Challenge. It will be followed by the inaugural Tournament of Champions on December 7.

The Causeway Challenge has evolved from its humble beginnings into the richest scrabble event in the world featuring three divisions:premiere, masters and open.

Participation in the premiere is by invitation only and is limited to 50 of the world's best players. They will be divided into teams of five and will play 45 games in the round-robin format over five days.

Members of the winning teams will be rewarded with gold, silver and bronze medals. The overall individual champion will walk away with a whopping US$30,000. There will also be cash prizes from the second to 10th placer. (THE FREEMAN)