2 Israeli Players Take Part In Scrabble World Championship

Two Israeli players are taking part in the 2019 World English Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC), now underway in Goa, India. The tournament began October 15 and will run through October 20.

“It’s a privilege to represent Israel at the World Scrabble Championship in Goa, India. It feels great to play amongst the best Scrabblers in the world while wearing our flag proudly,” Omri Rosenkrantz, a sociology lecturer at the Open University, tells NoCamels.

While a family-friendly board game played by millions around the world, the WESPAC event draws the world’s best Scrabble players who must hold international ratings in order to represent their countries at the competition.

There are over 350 players from 53 countries taking part in the WESPAC World Scrabble Championships, according to organizers.

The WESPAC event is considered the most prestigious in competitive English-language Scrabble.

Dr. Evan Cohen, the director of the Tel Aviv Scrabble Club who is also representing Israel at the tournament, took part in his first world championship in 1991.

“In 1991, this amazing tradition was started. I had the wonderful opportunity to represent Israel there, something I’ve done several times since,” Cohen tells NoCamels. “This time, in Goa, the world comes together to play Scrabble, and we – the Israelis – have the opportunity to play the best in the world, and prevail.”

Cohen and Rosenkrantz hit global headlines when they represented Israel at WESPAC in Perth in 2015 as the first married couple ever to represent a country.