UV's Martus rules Malaysia scrabble tourney

CEBU – Teodoro Martus, Jr. of the University of the Visayas bested close to a hundred participants from all over Asia to capture the championship of the Asian Causeway Scrabble Challenge recently in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

“I did not expect to win because I had a bad start as I finished the first day with only five wins out of nine. I thought lisod na kaayo i-apas but I’m thankful that on the fourth day I swept five games and that’s the reason why I got the chance to earn 20 wins all in all,” Martus told The FREEMAN.

Martus edged out Andy Kurnia and early title favorite Ricky Purnomo both of Singapore for the top post.

“Taas taas gyud akong nalagputan kay pag-una naa ra ko sa table 5 niya si Ricky (Purnomo) naa na pirmi sa table one. Then, wa ko mag-expect nga maabot naku sa table one and kontrahon pa jud ang seeded player in this competition,” said Martus.Overall, Martus tallied 22 wins out of 33 games that translated into 2,146 points. He took home P60,000 for his feat aside from earning the right to represent the country to next year’s World Scrabble Championship (WSC) in United States.

Martus expressed his profound gratitude to the University of the Visayas (UV) family, the UV Alumni Association, and the Gullases for their all-out support that drove them to strive harder and scale greater heights.

Meanwhile, Andy Kurnia of Singapore finished second in the Malaysia tilt with 1, 515 points followed by Purnomo with 867 points.

Rounding up the top 10 finishers were Jocelyn Lor of Malaysia, Pat John Trinidad, Jagan Narayanan of Malaysia, Chia Guo Cong of Singapore, Alastair Richards of Australia, Chollapat Itthiaree of Thailand and Kitty-Jean Laginha of Australia.

Another UV Green Wizard, Michael Laput, landed at 25th place with 18 wins and 304 points. — Marigold P. Lebumfacil (THE FREEMAN)