Akshay B. and Ralph Lobo takes the UAE Slots for WSC 2009 at the Closing of GST

Akshay (UAE) receiving his prize and trophy

Akshay Bhandarkar (UAE) wrapped up the title in round 15 by beating Ralph Lobo (UAE) in a high scoring game, 561-502 to regain his GST title. Akshay had a win-loss record of 13-2 while Ralph had 11-4 with one round to go. In the last round, Akshay was Gibsonized so as not the influence the results of the other contender seeking for WSC slot especially Ralph and Robins Magaki, both UAE who were at the 2nd and 3rd spot, respectively before the final round. Akshay was awarded with the Roy Kietzman's Cup.

A minute of silence was observed before starting the tournament in honor of the Roy's contribution to Gulf Scrabble. Irfan Siddiqui is currently the head of Bahrain Scrabble League (BSL) who have done a marvellous job including all who made these things possible despite the odds to make GST a success. Every year, Bahrain hosts the GST but it was held this time at Salman Cultural Centre, Adliya. Judith Britten and some of her assistants from Qatar did the annotation of all the games for board 1.

The 2nd place was contested by Robins and Ralph to determine who will join Akshay in the WSC 2009 which will be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia this coming November. Ralph prevailed, 387-312.

Rounding off the top 7 who received the prizes were 3rd Victor Ikawa (Bahrain), 4th Robins Magaki (UAE), 5th Irfan Siddiqui (Bahrain), 6th Ronald Credo (UAE) and 7th Cecil Fernandes (Oman).

High scoring J-word, ADJOINS for 113 points went to Irfan Siddiqui (Bahrain) while the High Scoring Q-word, QUOTIENT for 102 points goes to Sanath Hemachandra (Oman).

Highest Game score goes to Shakir Reshamwala (Kuwait) for 601. Highest Single Score, CRAWLING for 185 points was awarded to Anthony Gomes (Qatar).

Prize Winners

UAE won the best Scrabble team as 6 of their players landed on the top 10.

UAE - Best Performing Team

Final Standing after 16th rounds

Rank Player Wins Margin

1 Akshay Bhandarkar (UAE) 14 856
2 Ralph Lobo (UAE) 12 894
3 Victor Ikawa (Bahrain) 11 688
4 Robins Magaki (UAE) 11 468
5 Irfan Siddiqui (Bahrain) 10 803
6 Ronald Credo (UAE) 10 500
7 Cecil Fernandes (Oman) 10 497
8 Wimal Fernando (Oman) 10 -347
9 Selwyn Lobo (UAE) 9 601
10 Leo Capuno (UAE) 9 355
11 Rohaina Tanveer (Kuwait) 9 98
12 Shakir Reshamwala (Kuwait) 9 7
13 Salih Salah (KSA) 9 -12
14 Marie Fernandes (Oman) 8 430
15 Ricky Gonzalez (KSA) 8 307
16 Eric Kinderman (UAE) 8 214
17 Sonny Hemachandra (Oman) 8 31
18 Thilina Elvitgala (Bahrain) 8 28
19 Anthony Gomes (Qatar) 8 -35
20 Mahboob Khan (KSA) 8 -102
21 Sanath Hemavhandra (Oman) 8 -238
22 Mujeeb Rahman (Bahrain) 8 -280
23 Wone Mamadou (Kuwait) 7 138
24 Nikhil Soneja (UAE) 7 -11
25 Susan Ensor (Kuwait) 7 -51
26 Noroden Abdul Hamid (Qatar) 7 -137
27 Madhu Soneja (UAE) 7 -474
28 Alifiya Murtuza (Kuwait) 7 -891
29 Usha Menon (Oman) 6 207
30 Shafique Ahmed (KSA) 6 -160
31 Ferrer Abordo (Bahrain) 6 -226
32 John Villaramon (Qatar) 6 -654
33 Imtiaz Ahmed (Bahrain) 6 -824
34 Loreta Alban (Qatar) 5 -471
35 Hashim Kalathil (Bahrain) 4 -724
36 Jacob Sunny (Qatar) 2 -1485

WSC qualifiers from left: Rohaina, Cecil, Salah, Victor, Ralph, Akshay, Irfan and Anthony

The WSC seats per Gulf countries are as follows:

1. UAE (2) - Akshay Bhandarkar and Ralph Lobo
2. Bahrain (2) - Irfan Siddiqui and Victor Ikawa
3. Oman (1) - Cecil Fernandes
4. Kuwait (1) - Rohaina Tanveer
5. KSA(1) - Salah Salih
6. Qatar (1) - Anthony Gomes

More reports and photos to come in a short while...