The United Asian Debating Championships 2011 in Macao faced technical glitches on the first day of debates today that forced hours of delay and made organizers fail to conduct the third preliminary round. The delay followed a decision in the council to increase the maximum margin in one debate from 12 to 15 points, giving bigger benefits for overwhelmingly stronger teams.
The motion to change the margin came from Asian debating powerhouse National University of Singapore that first wanted to eliminate the margin limit altogether. After their first attempt fell flat, NUS continued to propose to expand the bar from 12 to 20 points. The second push also failed but the school lugged on and won a slimmer increase at its third try.
It is still unclear how the organizers will fit the postponed round into the original rundown. UADC will let 24 teams to break into the knockouts with #9 to #24 going to the pre-octofinal round and the top eight teams waiting for the results from that stage in the octofinals. Only 4 squads will go to the special knockouts that will decide the best ESL team.
Seven Indonesian teams are competing in UADC Macao. They come from Binus International, Institut Pertanian Bogor, London School of Public Relations, Universitas Bakrie, Universitas Bina Nusantara, Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Parahyangan.
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