Akpos Malafakumo Best: The 'tech sis' with BIG dream is now Nigeria’s Scrabble queen

Akpos Malafakumo Best is not a household name in the Nigerian sports scene yet but that’s what the latest champion in the country is hoping to change soon. 

Best became a double gold medalist after leading Oil-rich Bayelsa State to glory at the recently concluded National Sports Festival, NSF, in Delta State. 

The hardworking superstar won two gold medals for the state in Scrabble, taking gold in the Women’s singles and team categories. 

In an exclusive interview with Pulse Sports Nigeria, the software engineer shared her amazing journey to stardom, how she turned her back on the game but bounced back to become the National champion and her ultimate ambition to represent Nigeria on the world stage. 

Here are excerpts from that interview with the Scrabble champion weeks after she defeated African Queen, Tuoyo Mayuku, in Delta State.

Best’s journey to the top of the game of scrabble in the country started 10 years ago in Bayelsa. In 2012, her mother introduced her to a board game that was played by her late father, Akpos, who she never met. 

"My mum introduced me to it. According to her, my dad who I never got to meet because he's late, used to play [scrabble]. She just wanted me to play because my dad used to play. She bought me the first paper board around 2012 but kids around the house destroyed it and then I stopped. In 2014, I was passing through a sports pavilion and saw a real board. Then I started playing with my coach in school who took us in handball. He was the one that introduced me to handball and scrabble. But I love things that make me read, so I got addicted to scrabble."

"I also met people in the national and international scrabble federation, they were better than me. In the beginning, they were better than me and won me when we played. But they gave me materials to study, and I became better than them, and began to win them too."

 "2017 was the first time I went to a competition. I went to the NUGA games. Before then I didn't know much about competing professionally, I was just playing scrabble because I was addicted. When I went to NUGA games, I represented my school Niger Delta University and won gold in the female singles event and another in the doubles. "

In 2017, she was on top of her game after making her school, the Niger Delta University, NDU, proud at the Nigeria University Games, NUGA. 

Best emerged victorious in the singles and team events at the 2017 edition of the University Games, winning two gold medals for her school. 

But according to her, she was shocked by her university's reception after the wins. 

"After competing at NUGA, I was excited, having won two gold medals for my school, and I was sort of expecting some rewards or something. But unfortunately, when we got back there were no incentives, no rewards - there was nothing. Although, they had a meeting with us where they gave us (a bottle of) water and a handshake. I was like, ‘is this all there is to it? If that’s the case, I am not playing again.’ So, I stopped playing scrabble in 2017 and focused on my studies for a year plus.

Disappointed by the treatment from her school, Best’s hiatus from the game didn’t last quite long, however, as she found her way back into the game a year later. 

"Towards the end of my graduation, I was at home and had time, so, I started going to the sports council in my state. I found out we had people who were playing Scrabble as a source of livelihood and that’s where the interest (in the game) got revived. I started going there and playing more, they had weekly, monthly and annual retreats. I saw the large scrabble family, the community, and then competitiveness.

"There was something to look forward to. We also had the Akpabio Classics in Edo State. I looked forward to it but the year I was meant to go it was scrapped. But then I just picked the interest (in scrabble again) because there were competitions to look forward to like the NSF, African championship and World Championship. So, I had all these to look forward to and that’s how I picked up the interest again. I participated more and I was losing, I hated losing but they were beating me. I was the champion in my school but there the least at the sports council. I got more material, studied more, and got someone to coach me.

"At some point, I even paid someone to coach me, and that was when I heard about the National Sports Festival (NSF) and prepared for it. The first one I was supposed to go for was in 2019 in Abuja but unfortunately, I didn’t make it because they (Bayelsa) didn't go with a female team. In 2021, I got better. I was a better player. I was competing with the best in my state at that time. They were still better but I was good enough to participate and that’s how I was picked for the Edo 2021."

Having trained with the best in the game in her State, Best was considered good enough to represent Bayelsa at the Nigerian Olympics, NSF. But on her first outing, she was anything but satisfied despite taking home two medals. 

"I played in Edo 2020, (but) only participated in two events, the doubles and team. In the doubles, we won silver and bronze in the team’s event. But it wasn’t good enough, I knew it wasn’t good enough and I could do better. So, after then, I studied more. I put in more work, as every Scrabble player knows. My family and friends know how much I have invested in studying and playing the game. I have been to many national competitions, so, I study a lot, and I put in more work.

"In Scrabble, you have what they call Open, Intermediate and Masters players, the Masters are the highest and I was in the Open (category) but playing Masters players because I wanted to be better. I just wanted to get better. So, I started playing there, they were always beating me (laughs). But I didn’t relent. It got to a point I could now beat Masters players, showing that I was getting better at the game."

"Talking about the festival (in Delta), I knew that I was going to play in the Singles and the person that was going to pose a challenge for me was a Masters' player. She’s been the only female player in the Masters' category for a long time and she is the number one female player in Africa. They call her “African Queen’. So, I knew the calibre of person I was going to face but I was prepared and prayed that God should help me."

After the competition's singles started, I was a game behind her but by the second day, I overtook her by two games before the last two games. In the last two games, if I had won the first one, I would have won the gold but unfortunately, I lost. So, it was down to the last game. It was down to the final game. It was dicey and full of tension. But I didn’t want to settle for silver, I had come too far. I won the final game and that’s how I came about the first goal. 

I picked up my second gold in the team’s event. We were supposed to play 15 games but as of the ninth game, we had won five and lost four games. It was a big blow. Personally, I was angry, disappointed and upset. But I saw on the leader board we were just four games behind the leaders. We needed to win the remaining six games to win, and it wasn’t going to be easy. That night, I prayed, I prayed (laughs). In this game, there is such a thing as the ‘God factor’. The next day, my teammates and I prayed, and we faced the African queen again. It wasn’t easy, we had won five games and before the final game, I called my teammates because I was the captain. I told them ‘We can do this; this gold is ours. We are not settling for silver.’ And that was how we won the second goal. 

Before the final, the Religious Studies graduate had met Mayuku four times and lost all four. She went into the final looking to end that run and she did. 

"It means a lot to win Africa's number one female scrabble player. Before our meeting at the sports festival, I was afraid of her because she had beaten me all the time we had played in the past, including four times at the previous Sports festival. Winning against her was wonderful."

It was epic, it was (sounding speechless), how do I describe it? I had won my game; my teammate had finished hers. She looked back at me and asked, ‘how far?’ I was afraid to tell her I had won because I wasn’t sure (she won). I now asked her, ‘how far?’ She said she won and that’s when I screamed ‘we’ve won gold, we’ve won gold.” It was epic. I didn’t know winning could be this sweet.”

"I always tell myself that the reward for success is more work. I'm not going to relax because I beat the African best. My goal is to represent Nigeria on the international scene, starting with the World Championship. But to achieve this, I have to put in more work, and play more masters players, because I just want to get better. I want to win more players who are international champions, whatever it would cost me, I am willing to sacrifice to make it happen."

Like her name, Best, who also won two bronze medals in Delta and became a software engineer this year, wants to be the BEST she can be and is ready to study and work twice as hard to achieve her goal.