Africa Youth Scrabble trophy tours Uganda ahead of continental championship

Just like the FIFA World Cup trophy tour, the Africa Youth Scrabble Championship trophy is making its way across the continent and Uganda was one of its key stops.

The 2.2 kg nickel trophy, carried without the tight security typical of global football events, is being showcased by Adekoyejo Adegbesan, President of the Pan African Scrabble Association (PANASA), headquartered in Nigeria.

During his visit to Uganda, Adekoyejo officially unveiled the trophy to Joseph Oluka, Assistant General Secretary of the National Council of Sports (NCS), at the NCS offices in Lugogo. He was accompanied by the President of the Scrabble Association of Uganda (SAU) and other NCS staff.

Adekoyejo praised Uganda’s growing strength in scrabble, ranking it just behind Nigeria, the continent’s scrabble powerhouse. He explained that the trophy tour is a build-up to the Africa Youth Scrabble Championship, scheduled for August 14–17 at Brighton International School in Kenya.

“The tour serves two purposes: to promote the upcoming championship and to raise awareness among governments about the value of scrabble as a sport,” Adekoyejo said.

This is the second edition of the biannual championship, with Nigeria as the defending champion from the inaugural event held in Rwanda. According to Adekoyejo, the trophy has already toured Togo, Liberia, Kenya, and Uganda, and will continue to Zambia, South Africa, Ghana, before returning to Nigeria.

In Uganda, the trophy was hosted at St. Peter’s High School and Mpumudde SS in Jinja, Gayaza High School, and the NCS offices in Kampala.

Uganda has been allocated 30 participant slots for the championship, while hosts Kenya will field 80 players. PANASA has pledged to cover most of the expenses for participating countries.

“We urge Uganda to fill all 30 slots. PANASA will support the players to ensure full participation,” Adekoyejo added.

NCS’s Joseph Oluka emphasized the importance of scrabble in schools, noting that it should be among the 15 mandatory sports disciplines in educational institutions under Uganda’s new sports law.

“We are ready to support scrabble, especially now that it has completed the new registration process,” Oluka said.

SAU President Nelson Kyagera confirmed that preparations are underway to select Uganda’s representatives. Regional qualifiers will be held in Mbarara, Jinja, Gulu, and the Central Region, targeting players in the Under-16 (primary) and Under-19 (secondary) categories.

“We are committed to developing scrabble from the grassroots level in schools,” Kyagera said.