The national BP title has been elusive for powerhouse Universitas Indonesia. Since the education ministry repackaged the tournament into a 96-team competition involving schools from all over the country and began to fund the best 3 teams to World Universities Debating Championship, UI has failed to claim the crown. From 2009 to 2011, UI, the university with the most successful debating society in Indonesia, fell in the final. Last year, UI debaters crashed in the semifinals. This year, that was where the campaign ended as well.
UI (Roderick Sibarani & Egalita Irfan) broke first into the knockouts of the 2013 National University Debating Championship after garnering 19 points from a maximum of 21 but had to see the chance to get the national title slip away when judges chose two other teams in their semifinal match for tomorrow's grand final. The consolation is they can still receive funding to go to WUDC 2014 in Chennai because this year the ministry will give the golden ticket to the top team on the tab besides to the champion and two other finalists.
The final will still be a competitive affair as the 4 last standing teams are among the 5 pre-tournament favorites. They are:
#2 Universitas Bina Nusantara (Invi Atmanegara & Jaran Walia)
#3 Universitas Gadjah Mada (Amir Abdul Aziz & Nabila Aghniarizqa)
#4 Institut Teknologi Bandung (Fauzan Reza Maulana & Vicario Reinaldo)
#5 Universitas Bakrie (Aryo Febrian & Alifia Firliani)
Invi Atmanegara and Jaran Walia from Binus won the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate, the national 3-on-3 championship, while Bakrie's Aryo Febrian championed IVED in 2012. No debater could triumph in both IVED and NUEDC, the name of the national BP tournament before it became NUDC this year. Becoming the first to marry the 2 national titles will not be easy. The ITB and UGM pairs also have shown excellent performance this year.
BIPEDS won the NUDC, Abu. They have married the two titles :) Thank you for keeping track of the tournament, as this has provided debate observers like myself with invaluable information :)
ReplyDelete- Bong (BIPEDS Coach 2008-2012)
congrats bong. your touch produced 3 national champs. ready to return from retirement?
ReplyDeleteTempting idea, Abu. But seeing where we are now, that means training for Chennai Worlds is already 8 weeks behind schedule :) It takes time to train teams to break for ESL.
ReplyDeleteSo, I think I'll get to keep my days quiet and angst-free this year :)
- Bong
PS: I know I'm signing as Anonymous. That's only because I don't have any of the profile choices!