WUDC 2012: Updates & Motions from Prelim Day 2

The second day of preliminaries at the 2012 World Universities Debating Championships in Manila had an Indonesian team scoring back-to-back wins, the emergence of an unofficial twitter tab and long motions. There will be 3 more rounds today but none of their results will be announced at the chambers. The tension will peak around the turn of the year when the main, ESL and EFL breaks are revealed.

Universitas Indonesia C (Ahmad Naufal Dai & Irene Severina) is the top Indonesian pair entering R7 with 11 VPs after winning R4 and R5. Binus International A (Astrio Feligent & Christian Leonardo), which had a spirited comeback after tough early rounds, ended Prelim Day 2 with 10 VPs. UI A (Adlini Ilma Ghaisany & Roderick Sibarani) and Universitas Gadjah Mada A (Tanti Kosmiyati & Amir Abdul Aziz) follow with 9 VPs.

There are also several teams on 8 VPs, including Binus University A (Bryan Gunawan & Sabarudin Adinugroho) and Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara A (Teddy Trihatmojo & Halim Nuswantoro). Naufal and Irene still can break into the main knockouts while the rest need to boost their performance to earn spots in the ESL/EFL debates.

For the first time in WUDC history, a shadow tab made from the wave of tweets coming from Manila has emerged. Click here for the active spread that also shows winning possibilities ala sports betting. One of its masterminds is Can Okar, the 2010 WUDC Chief Adjudicator. The tab covers more than 170 from almost 400 participating teams in WUDC 2012. Less than half but the powerhouses are all there.

According to this unoffical tab, the top 3 teams come from Victoria University of Wellington, University of Oxford and Monash University -- the usual suspects. Victoria B has 17 VPs, one short from the perfect score. The highest team from a non-Anglo Saxon nation is Ateneo de Manila University A with 13 VPs. Several online predictions believe only those with 19+ points could break this year. In previous WUDCs, many teams with 18 VPs could slip into the knockouts.

Motions in the first 6 rounds did not touch current affairs. No motions on the Arab Spring, Palestine, Euro debt, US foreign policy, China or the Internet yet. Many of them are long with complex forms and critical tweets have started to float around. The motions on prelim day 2 are as follows:

R4 THW require individuals to use all their wealth beyond $5 million for philantrophic projects
R5 THW require deaf parents to send their children, whether deaf or hearing, to mainstream schools for their primary and secondary education
R6 TH supports politicians who pass progressive legislation even when it is contrary to the wishes of the democratic electorate