By Victor Kanayo
The Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) has decried the refusal of the Embassy of the United States of America to issue visa to the country’s top player Oluwatimilehin Doko ahead of the World Scrabble Championship scheduled for Las Vegas Nevada.
NSF President Engr. Toke Aka who revealed this in an interview, said the visa denial has devastated the Scrabble community in Nigeria and the entire continent.
He said Doko’s absence at the global outing would be a massive blow to Team Nigeria and Africa generally.
The NSF said, “We believe he was wrongfully stereotyped. This is a player who came out amongst the top five in Accra, Ghana last year during the West African Scrabble Championship and qualified for the African Scrabble Championship in Zambia but missed out after his passport was held up in Bayelsa State during last year’s flood. We just hope this does not dampen the young man’s morale.”
Doko’s Journey To Continental Relevance
His enlistment to the Team Nigeria’s World Scrabble Championship started early 2022 in Kano state when he dazzled all at the National Open Championship.
Doko went on to consolidate to the amazement of all in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, during another Inspector General of Police National Open competition same year.
Doko who is a 400 level student of Pharmacy at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) then made the final cut for the World qualifiers in Sapele, Delta State, in January.
Doko Oluwatimilehin joined the qualifiers because of his national ranking as national number four player.
‘The New Kid on the Block’ who started playing scrabble in 2017 made it to the top ten in the pool of thirty-two players during the qualifiers.
The student who is enjoying some cool breeze and the spot light has other crowns in his name. He won the West Africa University Games Scrabble Championship.
