WSDC 2013: Australia Wins 9th Trophy, Ruins Swaziland Dream

Australia's Bo Seo makes his point amid Swaziland pressure
during the final of WSDC 2013 in Antalya, Turkey
(photo from WSDC Ltd by Cris Sanchez)

Australia, the most frequent winner of the World Schools Debating Championships, showed who is boss by crushing the dream run of Swaziland in the final of the tournament's 2013 edition. Team Australia (Bo Seo, Tyrone Connell, Zoe Brown, Nick Salmon, James Stratton), gave their country its ninth trophy after a 9-0 unanimous victory against Team Swaziland (Fanele Mashwama, Oliver Mills, Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza, Wabantu Hlope) which only joined WSDC last year. No other country has won more than 4 championships.

Australia's captain Bo Seo, who is of Korean descent, also took home the overall best speaker in his third WSDC. Swaziland's Fanele Mashwama, who was also part of the first-entry 2012 team, came second. Both teams lost one match in the preliminaries. Australia bowed to Canada in the last prelim while Swaziland lost to Singapore in the first round. Swaziland, which has picked up fans worldwide after their R3 unanimous win over reigning champion Scotland, took revenge against Singapore in the more crucial semifinal.

This year's WSDC was held in the tourist city Antalya in Turkey. The next will take place in Bangkok, Thailand. Fellow Southeast Asian country Singapore has won the bid to host WSDC 2015, keeping the tournament in the East as the West is going through economic recession.