Mbugua wins Bondo national championship

Gitonga Nderitu (left) and Nicholas Mbugua in past action at the Coast Open Scrabble championships. [Gideon Maundu, Standard]

East Africa seed 10 Nicholas Mbugua beat a field of top stars to win the eighth national scrabble championship over the weekend, at Pride Hotel, in Bondo.

Mbugua, who plays for Stima Scrabble Club, defeated Ugandan seed one Phillip Edwin-Mugisha 480-357 in the penultimate match to win his first national scrabble title this year with two matches to spare.

The win saw Mbugua complete a perfect 16 wins out of 18 rounds of matches with a cumulative winning spread of 993 points, which was an improvement from his fourth-place finish during the Mombasa leg last month.

Mugisha finished second with 12 victories, one draw and a spread of 836 points, while Martins Mutahi closed was third with 12 wins and a spread of 552 points.

“The championship was tough but I am glad I won. Despite finishing fourth in Mombasa, I stand here a winner. It all requires focus and commitment,” Mbugua said after the win.

Wamucii Irungu was the best lady in the circuit after registering nine wins as Kenya’s top seeds Nderitu Gitonga, Allan Oyende and Willy Mwangi missed the tournament.

In the intermediate division, Julius Auka from Kwale pipped Ugandan Milton Mwila to the title by a point, while Samson Midigo finished third.

Auka registered 14 wins with a cumulative winning spread of 1294 points to win as Mwila scored 566 points after registering 13 wins.

Kisumu’s Tony Ochola and Stanley Mulaku registered the highest combined score of 1,051 points.

The circuit was used as the final qualification event for the upcoming Pan African Scrabble Championship (PANASA) and Water and Sewerage Companies scrabble championship (WASCO) games.

Action now shifts to Busia County for the ninth leg next month.