WSDC 2014: Indonesia With 2 Wins So Far in Unpredictable Tourney

At the mid-way point of the 2014 World Schools Debating Championship, Team Indonesia has collected 2 wins from 4 rounds. There are 4 preliminaries to go with an open chance to break into the top 16. Our national squad defeated lowly ranked Sweden and  highly seeded Greece. They lost to the 2010 champion Canada and United Arab Emirates, which are among the top ten favorites. In the next 4 rounds, they will face opponents with more or less of the same quality. They need at least 5 wins out of 8 debates to be able to advance into the elimination stage.

The tournament itself has been full of surprises, showing the tight level of competition. Former WSDC champions Scotland and Singapore bowed to underdogs China and Germany, respectively in round 1. Barbados, a team with erratic participation and without a good track record in WSDC, is becoming a dark horse with 3 wins out of 4. All teams have lost at least one judge point.  

Team Indonesia 2014 consist of Alif Azadi (SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh), Kevin Bonaparte (SMA 17 Makassar), Marsa Harisa (SMA 9 Yogyakarta), Regina Cara Riantoputra (SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan)
and John Amadeo (Raffles International Christian School Jakarta). Their coaches are Australs ESL champion Subarkah Syafruddin, an Universitas Indonesia alumnus who guided Team Indonesia to respectable 4-4 finishes in WSDC 2012 and 2013,  and his Australs teammate and fellow UI graduate Riza Aryani.

Indonesia has only broken twice into the WSDC out rounds, in 2003 and 2004, both times with a 5-3 record in the 8-round mandatory stage. The 2010 team also won 5 times in the preliminaries but came short from breaking. The 2013 team won the best EFL team award.