Pakistan Scrabble Association Awaits Affiliation

Pakistan Scrabble Association awaits affiliation

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Dec, 2022 ) :Despite winning several laurels for the country, Pakistan Scrabble Association (PSA) was awaiting Pakistan sports board's (PSB) nod for affiliation, as to make it a more vibrant body.

Speaking about this year's achievements, PSA Director Youth Program Tariq Pervez said Pakistan's Moiz Ullah Baig won the Continental Scrabble Championship 2022 in Germany while Waseem Khatri was the runner up in Scrabble Player's Championship 2022 at Baltimore USA.

"Two Pakistani players Ali Salman and Hasham Hadi were the champion and runner-up, respectively, of the World Youth Scrabble Championship 2022 held online," he told APP.

He said Hasham Hadi was the Champion of Asian Youth Scrabble Championship 2022 at New Delhi, India. "Another Pakistani player Affan Salman was the runner-up in the event while six Pakistani players were in the top ten of the extravaganza," he said.

Tariq Pervez said Pakistan's Syed Imaad Ali has become the first player in history to win the Youth Championship twice. "He won the World Youth Scrabble Championship 2021 (Online) and in 2018 at Dubai," he said.

About affiliation with PSB, Pervez said he had tried his might to get the federation affiliated with PSB in former Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ministers Riaz Hussain Pirzada and Dr Fehmida's tenure, respectively, but the matter could not be materialized.

"I am not giving up and will be meeting IPC Minister Ehsan ur Rehman Mazari soon. He is a very kind and energetic person and I'm very hopeful that he will help us in this regard, to put the association on track," he told APP.

While mentioning the Pakistani players previous achievements, he said our five players won the world championship in different categories of the Junior World Scrabble Championship played at Nottingham, England in August 2017.The champions included Ahad Riaz (Under-18), Sohaib Sanaullah (U-16), Hamza Naeem (U-14). "Imaad Ali and Monis Khan also retained their titles in u-12 and u-10 categories," he said and added scrabble has brought more world titles to Pakistan than any other sport.

Pervez, who was also a member of the Executive Committee of the global regulatory body World English Scrabble Player's Association (WESPA), said PSA was the only association in the world that was given the honor of organizing three virtual World Youth Championships and one adult World Championship during COVID-19 pandemic period.

"I request IPC Minister to consider over the years performance of the association and affiliate it with PSB to make it a more vibrant body," he said.

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