The group stages of the Gladiators WESPA Scrabble Championship came to an end with the top 8 players qualifying to the quarter finals. The world’s premier scrabble championship is being played online and organized by Pakistan Scrabble Association from their control center at Pharmevo House, Karachi.
The Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals will be played on 4th and 5th December 2021.
Australia dominated the proceedings on the final day of the group stage occupying the top two positions. Former Australian champion Peter Cougi finished the group stages on top with 25 wins and a spread of 1470. Former world champion and the current world No. 2 David Eldar finished second with 24 wins and a spread of 2007.
Scrabble World Youth Cup 2021: Pakistan Are ‘Team & Individual’ Champions
Will Anderson is the only American to make it to the quarterfinals while three other strong contenders stumbled in the end. Anderson has 24 wins and a spread of 1588.
Paul Gallen of Northern Ireland is 4th with 23 wins and a spread of 2219. Alastair Richards originally from Australian and now settled in New Zealand is 5th with 22 wins and a spread of 1122.
Two Nigerians made it to the quarter finals after overcoming some technical difficulties at the start. Former World Champion Wellington Jighere and Eta Karo are 6th and 7th respectively.
Sherwin Rodrigues of India made rapid strides in the final stages to sneak into the top 8. His teammate Udayan Grover made his job easier by knocking out his closest rival Dave Wiegand of USA in the last game. This also made sure that all five participating continents are represented in the quarter finals.
Pakistan which holds the World Junior Team and Individual Titles fielded a second string team since most of the top players volunteered to organize the tournament leaving their places for the youth. Waseem Khatri, the only adult player from Pakistan remained in the hunt for the quarter finals but lost the last two games to finish 22nd.
