Demand for strip-search at World Scrabble Championship

A player at the World Scrabble Championships demanded that an opponent should be strip-searched after a tile went missing.

England's Ed Martin was accused of hiding a letter 'G' during a match. A Thai player wanted him to be taken to a toilet so he could be searched, although authorities refused. Mr Martin won the match in Warsaw.



Nigel Richards, a New Zealander, took the overall title after scoring 95 points with the word 'omnified'. He was awarded th £12,700 prize. Mr Richards would have scored little for his acceptance speech, when he just responded: "Nice."

It was the second time Mr Richards has claimed the title. He also won in 2007. He beat 116 competitors from 44 countries to be named champion. The runner up was Andrew Fisher from Australia, who lost 3-2 in the final. The deciding rubber was a comfortable 476-334 win for Mr Richards.