WUDC 2013: BRAC Wins ESL Title, Porto Tops EFL

The winners of the secondary brackets of the 2013 World Universities Debating Championships are all first-time champions who have made history for their countries. 

In the ESL competition, #14ESL BRAC University A (Ratib Mortuza Ali & Aaqib Farhan Hossain) from Bangladesh won after they defended the motion imploring democracies to give parliamentary seats to large groups of foreigners. Ratib, dressed in a traditional golden Bengali outfit and spoke passionately about the plight of his countrymen who travel and reside in the United Kingdom, also won the audience vote to be the final's "darling". In the EFL category, #5EFL University of Porto A (Tiago Laranjeiro & Ary da Cunha) from Portugal rose triumphant in a debate on the decline of American hegemony. Both Bangladesh and Portugal had never won in any WUDC category before.   

The Bangladeshis in the final defeated higher ranked teams #1ESL University of Leiden A (Daan Welling & Karin Merckens), #2ESL Leiden C (Rogier Baart & Senna Maatoug) and #4ESL Raphael Recananti International School A (Ben Gladnikoff & Alon van Dam). They also ended a three-year Israeli reign over the ESL category. The Portuguese overcame challenges from #12 Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg A (Johannes Samlenski & Jannis Limperg), #14 University of Tokyo A (Toshinari Ishikawa & Kuwa Inokuchi) and #15 University of Bucharest A (Radu Tiganas & Serban Pitic).