World Youth Scrabble Bout in Malaysia

July 16, 2007 - PRLog -- The second World Youth Scrabble Championship, with quotas for nearly 30 countries, takes place December 4-6 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
   The WYSC is under the auspices of the World English-language Scrabble Players Association (Wespa) in collaboration with the Scrabble Association of Singapore.
   The WYSC will have 20-22 games with a best of five between the top two finishers. Players must be aged 17 or under as at December 31.
    Karen Richards, organiser of the WYSC and Wespa youth committee chairperson, said, “We hope to secure significant sponsorship, such that prize money will be equivalent to that of last year’s championship,” held in Australia.
   National allocations are based upon performance in last year’s WYSC with two extra seats given to countries which are non-Wespa members but join the association. If all countries take their allocations, the WYSC this year could have over 70 entrants.
   National associations are to advise Wespa by August 15 of their intention of fielding youth in the WYSC with names of participants being submitted by September 30.
   The WYSC is being organised in the wake of the 22-game sixth Causeway Challenge, November 30-December 2.
   The Causeway Challenge is a major tournament with 3,000 ringgit (BD 340) to the winner in the open division. A premier division is a closed event with those having a rating over 1800.
                    Early arrivals at the WYSC and youth escorts can take part in the what will be a defacto pre-youth championship competition.
 
Quotas
Countries which competed in ’06, quotas for ‘07
Australia  6
Canada  4
Great Britain  5
India     3
Gulf     3
Kenya     2
Malaysia  6
Philippines  4
Singapore  8
Sri Lanka  3
Thailand  5

Countries or regions which did not compete in ’06 but have allocations in ‘07
Europe,
continental  1
Ghana  2
Indonesia   2
Ireland  1
Israel     1
Japan     1
Malta     1
New Zealand  1
Nigeria  4
Pakistan  1
South Africa  2
South America   1
Tanzania  2
USA     4
Zambia  2
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About the World English-language Scrabble Players Assn.
Constituted two years ago in London, Wespa is recognised as the regulatory body for competitive Scrabble in English. The association examines the rules, ratings, tournament regulations and the authorised word reference for tournaments. Out of hundreds of millions of players of the brainy game in English, an estimated 25,000 players in 40-45 countries compete in tournaments.