Scrabble player demands strip-search of British opponent after letter 'G' goes missing at world championships

A slew of four-letter words was narrowly avoided at this year's World Scrabble Championships when a competitor demanded his opponent be strip-searched after the disappearance of a letter 'G'.

Furious Chollapat Itthi-Aree, from Thailand, demanded officials take Ed Martin, an IT consultant from London, to the toilet and search him believing he had the missing tile about his person.

But judges at the tournament in Warsaw, Poland, disagreed with Mr Itthi-Aree, a 24-year-old maths teacher.

They refused to carry out the search, enabling Mr Martin, 35, to go on to win the game by a single point.

War of the words: Chollapat Itthi-Aree (left), from Thailand, demanded officials take Ed Martin (right), from London, to the toilets to search him for a missing 'G' tile during their Scrabble match



Night on the tiles: Over 100 word wranglers from 44 countries contested for the $20,000 first prize at the World Scrabble Championships in Warsaw, Poland

Over 100 word wranglers from 44 countries contested for t he $20,000 first prize which was eventually won by 44-year-old New Zealander Nigel Richards.

Richards, who sported a magnificent beard, combined his tiles to form the word 'omnified' and score an impressive 96 i n his final game against Australian Andrew Fisher, 46.

The score finished up at 476-334.

The first prize was eventually won by New Zealand wordsmith Nigel Richards, who described his victory as 'nice'

It is the second time Mr Richards has scooped the prestigious title having won before in 2007.

However his acceptance speech sadly lacked the verbal dexterity one might have expected from such an established wordsmith consisting solely of the word 'nice'.