WSDC 2013: Swaziland Fairy Tale Continues with Final vs Oz

Antalya - the host city of WSDC 2013

 African state Swaziland proved fairy tales can come true in the world of debating. It only got its first taste of the World Schools Debating Championships last year, losing 4 of  8 mandatory debates, but it is now in the grand final of the 2013 edition.

Team Swaziland (Oliver Mills, Fanele Mashwama, Wabantu Hlophe, Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza) reached #2 on the preliminary tab this year after beating 7 opponents, including titleholder Scotland, and losing only to 2011 champion Singapore. In the semifinal, they met again and it was the cinderella team that emerged victorious.

In the final, they will square off with #5 Australia (Bo Seo, Tyrone Connell, Zoe Brown, Nick Salmon, James Stratton) over the motion "THBT Turkey will be better off outside the European Union". Australia, which will propose in the last debate, has won WSDC 8 times. The most any other country can get is 4. However, the Land Down Under's last title was in 2006.