‘Winning the national c/ships came as no surprise’

– Abigail Mc Donald

Newly crowned National Scrabble Champion Abigail McDonald said that winning the title this year came as no surprise since she was always expected to lift the coveted trophy.

McDonald dethroned former champion Fred Collins after an effervescent best-in-five finals which she prevailed winning by three games to two.

The new champ took the first two games and Collins came back to win the next two to force a final game which McDonald eventually won by 100 spread.

Speaking to Stabroek Sports yesterday McDonald said that the tournament this year was a major challenge for her since she was always favoured to win the title.

“Well I think this year the tournament was much harder for me because if you look at the previews for the tournament, everyone had me down to win or at least make it to the finals, so with that, I know that a lot was expected of me so I had to perform at my best,” she said.

“Collins is a great player and the finals against him really brought out a lot in me…I was really nervous during the game, but after I won the first two games I know that he wasn’t going to let me win that easy so I just stay focused and in the final game I came through,” she added.

The new scrabble champion said that unlike the previous tournament, the younger players really came in and made a difference and forced the more prominent ones to play hard.

She said that the youths, leading up to the tournament often formed themselves in groups and challenged each other and also played online.

Up next for the scrabble queen is the Caribbean championships and Mc Donald says, based on the players’ performance in this year’s national championships, Guyana should perform well.

She now awaits word from the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) as it relates to her reign as national champion.

With the win, McDonald took home the $50,000 first prize and trophy which came compliments of the Ministry or Culture, Youth and Sports.