WSDC 2013: Unlucky Day for Indonesia; Swaziland on Fire

Team Indonesia lost all two of their matches on Day 3 of the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships in Turkey, a competition that has become swooned by the fairytale campaign of Swaziland, a small African nation whose debaters have won all bar one of their rounds. Tomorrow is the last day for the preliminaries with R7 and R8.

Swaziland - WSDC 2013's cinderella

Indonesia's two losses came from split decisions that went in favour of their opponents - Romania in R5 and United Arab Emirates in R6. At the moment, Indonesia's scorecard is 3-3 with 2 rounds to go. Indonesia will meet Malaysia tomorrow morning and host Turkey in the afternoon. Both teams have higher ranks but pulling off an upset is very possible. Our debaters did it in R1 against Greece and have the ability to repeat that feat. The members of this year's team are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak.

The major upsets of the tournament came from a team from Swaziland, a country that only joined WSDC last year when they ended with a respectable 4-4 tally. They are now almost certain to break. Debaters of this tiny state have won 5 out of their 6 matches, only losing to 2011 champion Singapore on a 2-1 split decision in the first round. There was no more slip from there on. In the next round, they crushed Lebanon. Yesterday, they knocked down  Slovakia and then embarrased reigning champion Scotland through convincing 3-0 wins. Today, they outclassed Israel and China. Tomorrow, they face Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania.

WSDC 2013: Indonesia at 3-1 After R4, 4 Rounds to Go

Antalya, Turkey - the host city of WSDC 2013

Team Indonesia made a flying start by taking wins in the first three debates in the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships, the best ever, but had to accept a loss to last year's finalist Wales in round 4 today. After 2 days of debate, the temporary tally is 3 victories and 1 defeat.

In the morning round, Team Indonesia edged out Bosnia & Herzegovina on a 2-1 split decision in a debate in which our debaters proposed greater US military presence in East Asia. In the impromptu afternoon match, Wales argued for the motion "THW allow prisoners choose death over life imprisonment" and all three judges went their way. With 4 mandatory rounds to go, the national squad must win at least half of them to keep their chance to break alive. They will face Romania and United Arab Emirates tomorrow.

Since the first participation in 2001, Indonesia has broken into the knockouts twice, in 2003 and 2004, both with 5 wins from 8 rounds. In 2010, Indonesia also bagged 5 wins but came short from breaking on judge votes. Only the top 16 teams can break into the knockouts.The members of this year's team are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak.The coaches are Universitas Indonesia students Subarkah Syafrudin and Roderick Sibarani.

WSDC 2013: Indonesia Undefeated After Beating Greece, Hungary

Team Indonesia are still undefeated after winning their first two matches in the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships in Turkey today. In the first round, they pulled off an upset by beating their highest-ranked opponent, #6 Greece, which is a category A participant or part of the best grouping in the competition. They successfully knocked down the prepared motion "THBT important decisions about children's health should be made by medical professionals and not by their parents" on a 2-1 split decision. This is Indonesia's second win against Greece after the victory in 2004 that helped the team broke into the octofinals.

In the next round, the national squad from the role of proposition routed #50 Hungary from the lowest group H in an impromptu debate on whether the media should be prevented from intruding the lives of public figures. All WSDC teams must debate 8 different teams in the prelims, one from each of the 8 rank-based groupings. Indonesia is in the E grouping (#25-30) and ranks #27 out of 50 contestants. The WSDC groupings are calculated based on victories and judge votes in the past 3 championships. Four preliminaries have prepared motions and the other four rounds are impromptu. Winning less than five prelims guarantees seats in the audience during the knockouts.

Since the first participation in 2001, Indonesia has broken into the knockouts twice, in 2003 and 2004, both with 5 wins from 8 rounds. In 2010, Indonesia also bagged 5 wins but came short from breaking on judges votes. Only the top 16 teams can break into the knockouts.The members of this year's team are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak.The coaches are Universitas Indonesia students Subarkah Syafrudin and Roderick Sibarani.

The toughest match will be in round 4 as Team Indonesia face Wales, last year's finalist. The draw, speaking positions and motions for Team Indonesia 2013's remaining mandatory debates are as follows:

R3 Prop vs Bosnia & Herzegovina (#43/G) - TH supports greater US military presence in East Asia

R4 Opp vs Wales (#8/B) - Impromptu
R5 Opp vs Romania (#32/F) - THW cease the exploitation of resources in the Arctic region

R6 Prop vs United Arab Emirates (#17/C) - Impromptu
R7 Prop vs Malaysia (#20/D) - TH supports sovereign debt default as a legitimate economic strategy for countries 

R8 Opp vs Turkey (#26/E) - Impromptu

SODC 2013: Key Results

Champions: Universitas Gadjah Mada A (Amir Abdul Aziz, Dianty Widyowati, Alif Satria)
Finalists: "Not Myself" Universitas Brawijaya (Aditya Janu, Nur Rizki Oceano, Zelly Sidi Zamzami)
Best Novice Team: Universitas Negeri Semarang A

SODC 2013 Champs - Universitas Gadjah Mada A
(Amir Abdul Aziz, Dianty Widyowati, Alif Satria)

Best Novice Speaker: Gehan Ghofari (Universitas Gadjah Mada C)
 
Top 10 Speakers:
1. Alvine Stefan (Universitas Gadjah Mada B)
2. Nur Rizki Oceano (Not Myself/Universitas Brawijaya)
3. Amir Abdul Aziz (Universitas Gadjah Mada A)
4. Dianty Widyowati (Universitas Gadjah Mada A)
5. Romario Tambunan (Universitas Gadjah Mada B)
6. Aditya Janu (Not Myself/Universitas Brawijaya)
7. Indriani Pratiwi (Universitas Gadjah Mada C)
8. Gehan Ghofari (Universitas Gadjah Mada C)
9. Ummi Hadiba (Universitas Gadjah Mada C)
10. Zelly Sidi Zamzami (Not Myself/Universitas Brawijaya)



UGM Debaters Find No Rival in SODC 2013

English Debating Society Universitas Gadjah Mada proved it is still the best debating club in Indonesia outside the western side of Java by winning the 2013 Solo Open Debating Championship, taking 7 spots in the top 10 individual list and bagging the overall and novice best speaker awards. Without any debater from the Greater Jakarta or Bandung powerhouses in a tournament that sought to be an open, nationwide event, UGM found no competition. EDS-UGM sent 4 teams that all broke into the quarterfinals with 3 of them reaching the final four.

In the grand final, UGM A (Amir Abdul Aziz, Alif Satria, Dianty Widyowati) unanimously defeated the only non-UGM team that could reach the semifinals -- Universitas Brawijaya debaters who called themselves "Not Myself" (Nur Aditya Janu, Nur Rizki Oceano, Zelly Sidi Zamzami).  Alvine Stefan from UGM B topped the speaker list and only the 3 Brawijaya finalists were not from UGM in the top 10. Gehan Ghofari from UGM C took the best novice speaker prize. SODC had a separate novice break which was won by Universitas Negeri Semarang.

IVED 2013: Tab Room Flaws Cost UPH a Milestone Break Spot

Universitas Pelita Harapan ranked higher than the eventual novice champion of the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate but failed to break into the knockouts of that category due to errors in the tab room. Members of the adjudication core have apologized for this mistake, which is impossible to correct a week after the competition. Read the letter here.

In the written apology, the A-core said novice officers and tabmasters gave UPH different codes. This discrepancy failed to receive notice from the chief adjudicator and her deputies because the tab room was "hectic" before breaking announcement and they "had no time to double and triple-check" the novice break list, which had no sign of the UPH team. This mess-up only became known after the tournament, leaving no room for correction. The IVED 2013 A-core consisted of Kirana Kania (ITB), Boby Andika (UI), Cindy Fransisca (Atma Jaya) and Edward Sutanto (Undip) who all have ample tournament experience. They considered the miss as a "tragedy".

UPH debaters used the code PHASED, the name of their club, in IVED 2013 and registered themselves as novice. They should have broken third in the novice category, higher than the two teams that debated in the final -- eventual winner Binus University B and runner-up Institut Teknologi Bandung A who broke fourth and third respectively. UPH has never broken in any IVED category before and would have set a school milestone had the tabulation gone properly. Indeed, nobody could predict where UPH would have ended if they had the opportunity to break. Still, any tournament break list should be accurate and deserves double-checking, regardless of circumstance, especially in a prestigious one like IVED.

IVED 2013: Key Results

Champions: #1 Binus International A (Andrew Sadeli, Invi Atmanegara, Jaran Walia)
Finalists: #2 Universitas Indonesia A (Dennys Kapa, Magreta Kailla Adenta, Revaldi Wirabuana)
Best Speaker: Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia A)
Novice Champions: #4Nov Binus University B (Junario Wibawa, Kelvin Wongso, Maulana Nofrimurti)
Novice Finalists: #3Nov Institut Teknologi Bandung (Ginani Hening Utami, Dara Indira, Hafidz Adi) 
Best Novice Speaker: Revaldi Wirabuana (Universitas Indonesia A)


IVED 2013 Champions: Binus International A
(Jaran Walia, Andrew Sadeli, Invi Atmanegara)

Top 10 Speakers:
1. Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia A)
2. Erwina Salsabila (Universitas Gadjah Mada B)
3. Invi Atmanegara (Binus International A)
4. Andrew Sadeli (Binus International A)
5. Jaran Walia (Binus International A)
6. Dianty Widyowati (Universitas Gadjah Mada C)
6. Revaldi Wirabuana (Universitas Indonesia A)
8. Muhammad Rimba Putra (Institut Teknologi Bandung B)
9. Magreta Kailla Adenta (Universitas Indonesia A)
10. Tanti Kosmiyati (Universitas Gadjah Mada C)


Top 5 Novice Speakers:
1. Revaldi Wirabuana (Universitas Indonesia A)
2. Romario Tambunan (Universitas Gadjah Mada B)
3. Revian Wirabuana (Universitas Parahyangan A)
4. Gabriel Charlotte (Universitas Indonesia B)
5. Rio Trimono (Universitas Indonesia C)

IVED 2013: Bipeds Win First Classic, BNEC Top Novice

The trophies of the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate all went to students of the Binus University system. Binus International Pool of English Debaters (Bipeds) won the main prize while Bina Nusantara English Club (BNEC) triumphed in the novice category. Debaters from powerhouse Universitas Indonesia failed to bag another IVED silverware but topped the main and novice speaker tabs.

In the main event, #1 Binus International A (Invi Atmanegara, Andrew Sadeli, Jaran Walia) edged out #2 Universitas Indonesia A (Dennys Kapa, Magreta Kailla Adenta, Revaldi Wirabuana) on a 7-4 split decision to give Bipeds its first victory in a classic nationwide tournament. IVED, JOVED and ALSA UI are competitions that built the Indonesian debating scene in 1997-1998 and considered as classics. In 2011, Bipeds did win the national BP championship NUEDC but that competition is a fairly new state-sponsored scheme.

The IVED 2013 champions grabbed their throne without losing a match. They beat UI A before in preliminary round 6. For Invi and Jaran, this is their one-year long partnership's second major trophy after the 2012 United Asian Debating Championships last May. For Andrew, this was a great send-off gift before he leaves Bipeds and the country to continue his studies.

In the novice category, #4 Binus B (Junario Wibawa, Maulana Nofrimurti, Kelvin Wongso) completed the Binus success by winning the title for promising teams. They defeated host #3 Institut Teknologi Bandung A (Ginani Hening Utami, Dara Indira, Hafidz Adi Prasetya) on a 5-4 tight call.

Eight-time champions UI must wait longer before getting the ninth trophy since winning the last in 2008. This is their third consecutive IVED grand final defeat. UI lost to Universitas Bakrie last year and Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2011. Still, UI debaters showed they are a force in Indonesian debating. Dennys Kapa, who also reached the final in IVED 2011, topped the overall individual tab and his freshman partner Revaldi Wirabuana received the best novice speaker award.

IVED 2013: Bipeds v UI in Final; Binus, ITB Go for Novice Title

The best teams on the tab will clash in the last match of the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate. #1 Binus International A (Invi Atmanegara, Jaran Walia, Andrew Sadeli) are on the path to give the Binus network of schools its first IVED title but they have to confront eight-time champions Universitas Indonesia in the final today. #2 UI A (Dennys Kapa, Magreta Kaila Adenta, Revaldi Wirabuana) seek to bring the trophy back to Depok after a four-year interval.

Both teams are laden with champions with international experience. Final year students Invi and Jaran won the EFL category of the 2012 United Asian Debating Championships and broke in the 2012 World Universities Peace Invitational Debate. Andrew chaired several debates in the recent World Universities Debating Championships. Dennys is a two-time ALSA UI champion who reached the EFL final of the 2012 Asian BP tournament.  Year 2 student Deta represented Indonesia in the 2011 World Schools Debating Championships while freshman Aldi competed in the same prestigious event last year.

In the novice category, young teams from established Java-based institutions will vie for the title. Host #3 Institut Teknologi Bandung A (Ginani Hening Utami, Hafidz, Dara) face #4 Binus University B (Junario Wibawa, Maulana Nofrimukti, Kelvin Wongso) in the final.

IVED 2013: Fresh Brawijaya v Bipeds & Classic UI v UGM in SF

Two fresh institutions represented in the semifinals of the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate have never reached the grandfinal before, let alone winning the title. But only one of them will set a record as they will meet each other tomorrow. The other match is a classic showdown of the country's powerhouses.

In the first semifinal, darkhorse #5 Universitas Brawijaya A (Nur Rizki Oceano, Zelly Sidi Zamzami, Queentries Regar) will face #1 Binus International A (Invi Atmanegara, Jaran Walia, Andrew Sadeli), a team with three trophies combined, including the ESL title from the 2012 United Asian Debating Championships. Brawijaya is an old player in Indonesian debating that reached the semifinals in the 2nd IVED in 1999 but in recent years its national achievements have been scarce. The latter debaters, despite their past triumphs, come from a club that only emerged less than five years ago but rapidly rose with support from foreign coaches. Teams from Binus International Pool of English Debaters (Bipeds) have won NUEDC and other domestic tournaments but still have no trophy from Indonesia's three classics -- IVED, JOVED, ALSA UI.

In the other semifinal, #2 Universitas Indonesia A (Dennys Kapa, Magreta Kaila Adenta, Revaldi Wirabuana) will face #3 Universitas Gadjah Mada B (Amir Abdul Aziz, Erwina Salsabila, Romario Tambunan). UI has won IVED eight times while UGM twice. Their showdowns at end rounds of national tournaments have been frequent and usually highly spirited.

IVED is the national 3-on-3 championships. It is the first truly nationwide tournament using an internationally accepted format. Winners are considered the best of their generation. Last year, cinderella team Universitas Bakrie defeated UI in the final. This year, Bakrie failed to break.     

IVED 2013: Novice & Main Knockout Brackets

Novice Bracket

1. Undip C
	1. Undip C
8. Atma Jkt C
		4. Binus B
4. Binus B
	4. Binus B
5. Unsoed A
			4. Binus B
2. Unpad B
	2. Unpad B
7. UMY A
		3. ITB A
3. ITB A
	3. ITB A
6. UMY B

Main Bracket

1. Binus Intl A
	1. Binus Intl A
16. Unhas B
		1. Binus Intl A
8. UGM A
	8. UGM A
9. ITB B
			1. Binus Intl A
4. Binus Intl B
	4. Binus Intl B
13. Unhas C
		5. Brawijaya A
5. Brawijaya A
	5. Brawijaya A
12. Binus Intl C
				1. Binus Intl A
2. UI A
	2. UI A
15. UI C
		2. UI A
7. UGM C
	10. ITB C
10. ITB C
			2. UI A
3. UGM B
	3. UGM B
14. Unhas A
		3. UGM B
6. Unpad C
	11. UI B
11. UI B

IVED 2013: Binus Intl, UGM, UI & Unhas Take 3 Break Spots Each

Twelve teams, or three-quarter, that broke into the top 16 of the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate come from only 4 institutions as powerhouses Binus International, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada and  non-Java dark horse Universitas Hasanuddin each secured 3 spots. Undefeated Binus International A (Invi Atmanegara, Jaran Walia, Andrew Sadeli) broke first and seek to grab their club's first title from IVED - Indonesia's most prestigious 3-on-3 tournament.

Some old forces are struggling to maintain foothold. Former IVED champion Universitas Atma Jaya and national BP title holder Binus University, both Jakarta-based favourites, failed to send even one team into the main knockouts. However, these two universities at least have representatives in the novice break for consolation. Nobody from Universitas Parahyangan, a major school that pioneered Indonesian debating with UI in 1997, is left standing after 6 preliminary rounds. The majority of the out rounds take place tomorrow. The full breaking teams are listed below.

Main Break
1. Binus International A
2. Universitas Indonesia A
3. Universitas Gadjah Mada B
4. Binus International B
5. Universitas Brawijaya A
6. Universitas Padjadjaran C
7. Universitas Gadjah Mada C
8. Universitas Gadjah Mada A
9. Institut Teknologi Bandung B
10. Institut Teknologi Bandung C
11. Universitas Indonesia B
12. Binus International C
13. Universitas Hasanuddin C
14. Universitas Hasanuddin A
15. Universitas Indonesia C
16. Universitas Hasanuddin B

Novice Break
1. Universitas Diponegoro C
2. Universitas Padjadjaran B
3. Institut Teknologi Bandung A
4. Binus University B
5. Universitas Jenderal Soedirman A
6. Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta B
7. Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta A
8. Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta C

    

IVED 2013: Brawijaya Among Undefeated Teams After R3

The first half of the preliminaries at the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate ended today with several teams still undefeated after 3 rounds. Almost all of them come from schools that have won at least one of Indonesia's 4 major nationwide tournaments. The exception is Universitas Brawijaya A (Nur Rizki Oceano, Queentries Regar, Zelly Sidi Zamzami) from Malang. While Brawijaya is an old player in Indonesian debating and has won many tournaments within East Java province, the school has no IVED, JOVED, ALSA UI or NUEDC title to boast yet. It is too early to say whether this dark horse's run can last but they defeated the B team of favourites Binus International in R3, showing some promise.

The other undefeated teams are: Binus International A, Binus University A, Institut Teknologi Bandung C, Universitas Gadjah Mada A & B, Universitas Indonesia A & B. All participating institutions have at least one team with a loss so far, including the C teams of powerhouses UI and UGM. There will be 3 more rounds tomorrow before the break anouncement. It is still anyone's game as usually only teams with 4 wins after 6 rounds have the chance to make the cut.

IVED 2013: The 16th Edition Starts Without Two-Time Champ STAN

Institut Teknologi Bandung - Venue of IVED 2013

The 16th edition of the Indonesian Varsities English Debate (IVED), the country's most prestigious debating tournament, started today at Institut Teknologi Bandung. More than 200 varsity debaters from 36 tertiary institutions gathered in the hillside city and witnessed a test debate on taxing religious organisations that commenced the event. A prominent absentee was Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara (STAN), which has weakened since the school won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005. It also failed to show up last year.

Preliminary debates will take place on Saturday and Sunday with 3 rounds per day. The best 16 on the tab will qualify for the main knockouts while the top 8 novice teams can progress into a separate elimination stage. Team Indonesia for the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships will participate in the prelims but won't be eligible to break. Previously, only teams with 4 wins from 6 rounds could break in the open category. The majority of the out rounds will be held on Monday while finals will take place on Tuesday.

The 3-on-3 IVED is the de-facto national championships and winners are considered the best of their generation. Last year, dark horse Universitas Bakrie pulled off an upset by defeating powerhouse Universitas Indonesia in the final. It was Bakrie's first ever domestic trophy. UI still leads with 8 IVED trophies and is among the favourites this year. The other strong contender is Binus International, which is fielding debaters who won the EFL title in the 2012 United Asians Debating Championships and broke in the 2012 World Universities Peace Invitational Debate. While Binus teams (regular and international) have won many domestic competitions, none could bag the IVED title in the past 15 years.

Institutions in IVED 2013 (some of them are fielding 3 teams)

1. Binus International
2. Binus University
3. Institut Pertanian Bogor
4. Institut Teknologi Bandung
5. Politeknik Negeri Ujungpandang
6. Sampoerna School of Business
7. Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Jember
8. Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Bali
9. STBA Teknokrat
10. STMIK Amikom
11. Universitas Ahmad Dahlan
12. Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta
13. Universitas Atma Jaya Yogyakarta 
14. Universitas Bakrie
15. Universitas Brawijaya
16. Universitas Diponegoro
17. Universitas Gadjah Mada
18. Universitas Hasanuddin
19. Universitas Indonesia
20. Universitas Jenderal Soedirman
21. Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana
22. Universitas Muhammadiyah Jember
23. Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang
24. Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta 
25. Universitas Negeri Jakarta
26. Universitas Negeri Semarang
27. Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta
28. Universitas Padjadjaran
29. Universitas Parahyangan
30. Universitas Paramadina
31. Universitas Pelita Harapan
32. Universitas Sanata Dharma
33. Universitas Sriwijaya
34. Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa
35. Universitas Sumatera Utara
36. Universitas Widya Mandala