Gulf Air has become the official title sponsor of the 17th Gulf Scrabble Tournament (GST) as well as other major events of the brainy game this season. The sponsorship agreement, signed between Bahrain Scrabble League (BSL) and Gulf Air, besides offering air travel support at half-price fares for participants at the major regional competitions in June, also extends other services and facilities to support the league’s programmes planned for the season.
"Gulf Air not only sponsors mega-events like the Grand Prix Formula One and associated motor sports but also challenging mind games like Scrabble which attracts engineers, teachers and architects as well as students and housewives to use their grey matter to work out winning solutions," says airline vice-president, marketing and sales, Lee Shave. "As the flag carrier of the Kingdom we see it is as an opportunity to promote the country as well as encourage young local talent who are assets of the nation."
In December last year, Gulf Air made it possible for 17-year-old Bahraini school student Mohammed Zafar to fly to Australia to take part in the World Youth Scrabble Championship. The game, played in 15 clubs throughout the Gulf, has been in the region for over 40 years as a competitive mind sport.
The GST is the qualifying contest for the ninth World Scrabble Championship (WSC) likely to take place in autumn at a venue yet to be determined. “The title sponsorship by Gulf Air is certainly a landmark event in the history of our Scrabble League, and we’re exuberant about the opportunities opening up in our 2007-08 season,” says BSL chairman Roy Kietzman.
“Since the 1980s Gulf Air has helped us with air tickets to take part in tournaments abroad, and, on occasion, the participation has proved to be a life-changing experience for the players." Bahrain is considered the hub of Scrabble-playing in the Gulf, hosting the GST each year since 1991.
The country has been represented in all WSCs and has been widely covered by the media regularly. In November 2005, the World English-language Scrabble Players Association (Wespa) asked if Bahrain could be its domicile while requests have also been made to host international competitions in the Kingdom. Roy is on the 11-member management committee of Wespa.
