NNDC 2013: Title Stays in Hands of Reigning Champs UI

The journey might not be as smooth as last year's clean sweep but Universitas Indonesia debaters won the National Newbie Debating Competition again today. #8 UI A (Tanita Rahmani & Dio Vio Alfath), the lowest-ranked team in the final, retained the title for the powerhouse after defeating long-time rivals #1 Universitas Gadjah Mada B (Mariette Wahyuningsih & Sufi Adenda), emerging force #6 Universitas Paramadina (Retno Dewati & Putu Lumina Mentari) and perennial contenders #7 Universitas Diponegoro (Rafinata Fasihani & Temi Chintia) in the last debate.

With this victory, UI continues its winning streak of all tournaments exclusively for novices since 2009. From 2006, UI annually runs the 3-on-3 tournament for novices; all bar the 2009 edition witnessed the home team won. Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta started NNDC, the BP-style version, last year. In the inaugural championship, UI took first, second and third places. In 2012, UI also grabbed the three top speaker awards. This year, UGM's Sufi Adenda went home with the best individual title.

This is also UI's first victory in a large competition in 2913 after coming short in other tournaments. UI teams had collected 2 trophies before NNDC but they were from small, theme-based competitions.