WSDC 2013: Unbeaten NZ Top on Tab, Swaziland Second

New Zealand broke first from the preliminaries of the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships after winning all of their 8 debates, the only team that could wrap up the mandatory stage without a loss. Usually, there are multiple teams that can reach this feat. That is the least from this year's peculiarities that include the failure of reigining champion Scotland and last year's finalist Wales to break as both only could bag 4 wins, like Indonesia.

But the biggest surprise is the team that came second on the preliminary tab. It was Swaziland, a tiny African state that only joined WSDC last year. They had a 7-1 scoreline and better overall speaker scores than others with that tally, including Singapore, the only team that could beat them so far. Another quirk from this year's break is no team with 5 wins that could slip into the top 16. Half of the octofinalists broke with 7 wins while 7 in the mix had 6 points. Here is the break list:

1. New Zealand -- 8 points, 21 judges
2. Swaziland -- 7 points, 21 judges
3. Singapore -- 7 points, 21 judges
4. South Africa -- 7 points, 21 judges
5. Australia -- 7 points, 20 judges
6. England -- 7 points, 20 judges
7. Mexico -- 7 points, 20 judges
8. Peru -- 7 points, 19 judges
9. Ireland -- 7 points, 19 judges
10. India -- 6 points, 19 judges
11. Hong Kong -- 6 points, 18 judges
12. Netherlands -- 6 points, 16 judges
13. United Arab Emirates -- 6 points, 16 judges
14. Slovenia -- 6 points, 16 judges
15. Greece -- 6 points, 16 judges
16. Canada -- 6 points, 14 judges