Senegalese Mactar Sylla on the roof of the African Scrabble

Mactar Sylla places Senegal at the top of African Scrabble. Last week, the world ranked 16th won the title of Blitz African Champion at the 10th Francophone Scrabble African Championships. And as if that were not enough, he was crowned champion in pairs with Alassane Sow, before taking the first place in the Elite category, beating notably the Ivorian legend Zingbe Mathieu, thus settling permanently on the throne of African scrabble.

A breathtaking finale in pairs
Nothing was played before the last game. The Senegalese were in third place, six points behind a Cameroonian pair and one point behind Ivorians. It was during the 46th and last part that everything was decided: the duo made the difference by placing the word "oratorio", a rare and very rewarding term, which earned them 74 points. A decisive move that their opponents failed to reproduce, allowing Senegal to take first place.

The Blitz, his favorite discipline
In Scrabble, the Blitz is a variant of Scrabble duplicate where the reflection time is extremely reduced, generally one minute per shot (against 3 minutes in normal time). This very fast pace imposes a maximum pressure, where you have to find the best word, calculate the score and write the response report very quickly.

In this discipline where every second counts, Mactar Sylla dominated the event with authority.

A champion born into a family of legends
Very early initiated, Mactar Sylla discovered scrabble at the age of 13 thanks to his elder brother, Ndongo Samba Sylla, an iconic figure and multiple world champion. This click quickly propels him to the front of the stage. In 1999, he was crowned champion of Senegal in the cadet category before participating in the World Championships in Bulle, Switzerland.

Currently 16th in the world and a member of the prestigious international Super-series since 2009, he carries with him the legacy of a family of geniuses.

Mactar Sylla’s career is a fresco of triumphs: world champion in Blitz (2007), world champion in pairs (2007, 2016), multiple champion of Senegal, ranked among the best players in the world. It has in particular three world titles, all categories combined.

Reactions and the national dimension
The Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Khady Diène Gaye, praised this performance, stating that

 "Mactar Sylla confirms once again that Senegal is among the largest French-speaking scrabble nations on the continent and in the world."

Beyond the trophies, Mactar Sylla carries a strong message. He deplores the lack of means from which the discipline suffers in Senegal and pleads: "With few resources, one realizes the incredible. These titles must become the spearhead to anchor this discipline in Senegalese sport and train the next generation.” He also points out that "Scrabble develops literary skills and forms educational and professional elites."

Triple crowned in Ouagadougou, Blitz - Pairs - Elite, Mactar Sylla is not only a champion, he is the symbol of a golden generation of Senegalese scrabble, and one of the greatest players that Africa has ever produced.