WUDC 2013: Condoms, Alphorns Welcome Debaters in Berlin

Debaters from all around the globe who have descended in Berlin for the 2013 World Universities Debating Championships found a strip of condoms in their official kits and listened to the music from long alphorns as planet Earth's most prestigious debating event commenced. Eleven teams from Indonesia are among the 800 debaters who will vie for a handful of titles up for grabs.

For the first time in history, WUDC will have 48 teams advancing into the open knockout stage. The top 16 teams will take a breather while 32 teams under them fight for the remaining 16 octofinal spots. In the ESL and EFL categories, there will be 16 teams each that can break into the quarterfinals, which can mean plenty of Indonesians making the cut. The new arrangements will make January 2, the time for knockout rounds, a very long day. According to schedule, January 3 is reserved for the finals of the three categories.

Preliminary debates will kick off today at 9 am Berlin time (1500 WIB). R2 is expected to start at 1 pm (1900 WIB) and the last round of the day is scheduled at 4.15 pm (2215 WIB). Selected debates will be streamed live at this channel http://wudcberlin.com/live/ and there will be some direct showings on YouTube. All prelim debates will take place at Technische Universitat Berlin.