The Malta Scrabblers’ Club toughest and most important competition, the annual National League, this year held between the months of February and May and sponsored once again by Tetley, recently came to an end.

Despite some exciting sporting drama which had all Scrabble lovers anxiously holding their breaths to see who would be crowned Malta’s newest champion, the final outcome was unvaried from that of the past four years.

David Delicata, in fact, showed his trademark mental resilience and competitive prowess to break the stiff resistance of runner-up JoJo Delia (incidentally the club’s new president) to claim his fifth national league title in as many years. Third place went to Theresa Camilleri, by far the fastest-improving player, with Kevin Abela, the youngest player of the First Division pack, taking fourth spot.

In the Second Division, the highly seasoned player Frans Farrugia drew on all his experience and astuteness to tame the might of the former national champion Sammy Mangion, who disappointingly finished in second place. The young David Zammit continued his steady progress by placing third, while fourth place went to another veteran, Alfred Xuereb.

In the Third Division, Dominic Borg unleashed his impressive arsenal of bonus-words to claim the title ahead of the ever-improving Josephine Mayo. Third place went to the vastly experienced Laura Borg.

Finally, the short once-weekly competition was won by Marielouise Mifsud, followed by Pauline Cilia in second place and by Mary Darmanin Demajo in third place.

It is thus David Delicata and JoJo Delia, this year’s national champion and runner-up respectively, who qualify to represent Malta in the forthcoming ‘World Scrabble Championships’, to be held this year in London in the month of November.

Anyone interested in getting to know more about the Malta Scrabblers Club and its activities can phone either the club’s president Joseph Delia on 99428931 or the secretary Joe Mizzi on 7937 1574.