Gsa Road, Paynesville City — Lemuel Gibson, was the star player as he recorded the most wins to clinch the championship of the National Scrabble Association of Liberia replacing then reigning champions, Fomba Swaray.

Malek Sherif, the first Liberian international scrabble player, finished as runner-up marginally over Roland Boykai, the current top-most-rated player who narrowly slipped to the 3rd place.

Gibson, Sherif, and Boykai triumphed, which means they will represent Liberia at the All-African Games in Accra.

The three-day tournament was the fourth consecutive Scrabble championship held, with a total of 27 rounds played.

Lester Morris, the president of the federation, congratulated winners especially Gibson who became the youngest champion in the country.

Morris who encouraged players to continue to make Scrabble competitive, disclosed that the Scrabble Federation has not received government support in the last 18 years despite being an accredited institution.

Said Morris, "We are hoping that this tournament can be a mind-opener because Scrabble is on a low in Liberia."

He emphasized, "We hope that this tournament will make people take interest and maybe the government will start looking in the direction of Scrabble."

He further emphasized that under his stewardship, he wants to ensure Scrabble is played in high schools across the country and it is used as an extracurricular activity for students.

"We continue to make strides in the sports in Liberia. Now it's time to take the next step to play the game in schools.

He further added, "Having all of these things done, is a little bit expensive and we are operating from our pockets right now. We are encouraging former players who are in the national and international circles to look in the direction of Scrabble for us to achieve success together."