WSDC 2014: Key Results & Motions

Here are the key results from the 2014 World Schools Debating Championships, the most prestigious high school debating tournament this year. The numbers in the brackets after a team name follow this order: post-tournament position, place after 8 preliminary rounds, pre-tournament rank and group. WSDC uses a 3-on-3 format but each team can have up to 5 members and rotate their turns. Only speakers who debated at least 4 times in the prelims can enter the top individual list.

Champions: England (#1/#3/#2/A) -- 4th trophy

(Will Cook, Louis Collier, Eleanor Shearer, Sam Feinburg)

Finalists: South Africa (#2/#1/#4/A) -- 2nd appearance in GF

(Josh Broomberg, Samuel Musker, Saadiyah Mayet, Kate Dewey, Rachel Gardiner)

Best ESL Team: Peru (#6/#9/#24/D)

Best EFL Team: Netherlands (#7/#10/#7/B)

Top 10 Speakers

1. Will Cook (England)
2. Jane Carroll (Australia)
3. James Stratton (Australia)
4. Chin Wee Lee (Singapore)
5. Josh Broomberg (South Africa)
6. Kuan Hian Tan (Singapore)
7. Samuel Musker (South Africa)
8. Louis Collier (England)
9. Eleanor Shearer (England)
10. Sam Feinburg (England)

Best English-as-Second Language Speaker: Nishanth Selvalingam (Malaysia)

Best English-as-Foreign Language Speaker: Regina Cara Riantoputra (Indonesia)

Motions:
R0: THW Ban Children from Becoming Professional Models
R1: THW Ban Unpaid Internships
R2: THBT Only Liberal Democracies Should Host International Sporting Events
R3: THW Allow Prisoners to Volunteer for Drug Trials in Exchange for a Lighter Sentence
R4: THBT Post-Revolution States Should Delegate Trials of Former Rulers and High Ranking Officials to the ICC
R5: THBT Slum Tourism Does More Than Good
R6: THW Disallow Unvaccinated Children from Attending Public Schools
R7: THW Lift Tax Exemptions from Religious Institutions that Refuse to Recognize Marriage Equality
R8: THW Remove All Patents on Green Technology
Octofinal: THW not Prosecute Defamation
Quarterfinal: THBT Labour Unions are Becoming Obsolete
Semifinal: THBT Drone Strikes are a Legitimate Tool of Foreign Policy
Final: THBT an ASEAN Political Union is an Impossible Dream  

WSDC 2014: Title Goes to England, Indonesia Debater Best EFL Speaker

WSDC 2014 Champion - England

#3 England (Will Cook, Eleanor Shearer, Sam Feinburg, Louis Collier) won the 2014 World Schools Debating Championships in Bangkok, giving their country its fourth title from the most prestigious high school debate competition on the planet. Team Indonesia came home with the best EFL speaker award after an astonishing performance by a Banten high school debating star.

In the final that had England oppose the motion 'This House Believes That an ASEAN Political Union is an Impossible Dream', the eventual champion dashed the hope of  #1 South Africa (Saadiyah Mayet, Kate Dewey, Josh Broomberg, Rachel Gardiner, Samuel Musker) to become the first champion from the continent of Africa. England's Will Cook took home the best speaker award.

WSDC 2014 turned out to be a tournament of surprises. The teams that debated in the WSDC 2012 final, Scotland and Wales, failed to advance. In the top 16, there were 6 Asian teams - Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, Singapore and the Philippines. Indonesia, which had never broken in the last decade, advanced with 6 wins, the most ever scored by a team from the country. China broke for the first time ever. South Africa, which has never won WSDC, topped the preliminary tab with 8 wins and 23 judge points, short one ballot from perfect. They continued to convince all judges in knockout rounds before the final. Triumphant England stopped that incredible run after a 7-2 split decision.  

#9 Peru ranked as the Best English-as-Second-Language Team with Nishant Selvalingam from Malaysia topping the ESL speaker list. #10 Netherlands exited the tournament as the Best English-as-Foreign-Language Team with SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan Regina Cara Riantoputra snatching the top EFL speaker title. She is the first Indonesian to officially win that title. Last year, another Indonesian debater was announced to get that award but the organizers had to give it to another speaker after the eventual winner's language status was corrected. The next tournament will take place in Singapore, the only Asian country with a WSDC title. 

WUPID 2012: South Africans Take Away the Trophy

Debaters from South Africa outshone two past champions of the World Universities Peace Invitational Debate to snatch this year's title. #5 University of the Witwatersrand 1 (Chris Wood & Michael Macklin) pulled off an upset on Tuesday when they denied last year's champions Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Richard D'Ath & Seb Templeton) and 2010 winners National University of Singapore 1 (Imran Rahim & Robin Teo) from winning the tournament twice. Victoria 1 and NUS 1 were hot favourites entering the final after breaking first and second respectively. NUS' Robin Teo topped the individual tab.

Three Indonesian teams went to WUPID 2012 and a pair from Binus International (Invi Atmanegara & Jaran Walia) made history by becoming the first Indonesians who can advance into the tournament's elimination stage. WUPID is annually held in Kuala Lumpur and invites selected teams from all around the world.

Bali Takes 2 Spots in Indonesia's WSDC Team... Again

Bali's SMA 4 Denpasar continues its run as the top producer of debaters for Indonesia's team for the World Schools Debating Championships with two students getting into the current squad. Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita made the cut after a recent series of selection for WSDC 2013 in Turkey. The 2 girls previously championed the 2012 National Schools Debating Championships with Carissa taking the best speaker award. Earlier this year, 2 of their seniors represented Indonesia in WSDC 2012 in South Africa.

The 2 other members of the new Team Indonesia are Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak, the first debater from Kalimantan island selected for WSDC since Rusdi Ghazali in 2001. Rusdi, who also hailed from Pontianak, captained the squad that commenced Indonesia's participation in WSDC.

Australs ESL champion Subarkah Syafruddin, a final year law student at Universitas Indonesia, returns as the coach after guiding Team Indonesia to respectable 4-4 finish in WSDC 2012. Debater of the Year 2011 and fellow UI debater Roderick Sibarani accompanies him as co-coach.  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 newly selected Team Indonesia will feature at the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate in Bandung as a non-breaking team.
 

WSDC 2012: Indonesia Takes #25, Speakers Enter EFL List

Team Indonesia 2012 from L to R: Alif Satria,
Cheryl Cosslett, Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana

Team Indonesia bested their pre-tournament rank in the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships, taking the 25th position out of 48 contestants. The team entered the January 17-27 contest as rank #29. All four debaters also got into the Top 20 English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) speakers list. 


Team Indonesia won 4 debates, all with unanimous decisions when they were opposition, and collected 13 judges in the tournament's 8-round preliminary stage. They defeated Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Germany and Botswana and lost to Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and Israel.


While the result was insufficient to qualify for the knockouts, the team fared better than last year's squad and matched the W-L record in the 2006 and 2007 editions. Indonesia broke twice in WSDC, in 2003 and 2004, with 5 wins in the prelims. The 2010 team also bagged the same amount of victories but came short from making the cut.


Team Indonesia 2012 consists of twins Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana (SMA 4 Denpasar), Cheryl Cosslett (SMA 1 Bogor) and Alif Satria (SMA 8 Yogyakarta). The youngest Cheryl, the only second grader, scored the highest among the four and was the 10th best EFL speaker, immediately followed by Revian at #11EFL. Revaldi came at #15EFL while Alif was right behind him at #16EFL. Their speaker scores ranged from 70.767 to 70.292, an improvement from last year. The best speaker of the 2011 team reached #20 of the EFL list with 69.9. 


Chan Keun Kim from Korea took the best EFL speaker title for the second time in a row with 73.6; he was also #12 overall. The tournament's ultimate best speaker was Singapore's Teoh Ren Jie with 75.262; he also topped the tab last year. Indonesia's speaker point record is in the hands of Soraya Cassandra who scored 72.47 and reached #44 on the main list in WSDC 2005. 


Subarkah Syafruddin, a law student and debater from Universitas Indonesia, coached the team. Former debaters Ruli Manurung from Universitas Indonesia and Vitri Sekarsari from Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, respectively supervised and managed this year's contingent. They received support from the entire Indonesian debating community, including former WSDC debaters and coaches. 


Details of their achievements are as follows:
#10EFL Cheryl Cosslett 70.767
#11EFL Revian Wirabuana 70.729
#15EFL Revaldi Wirabuana 70.357
#16EFL Alif Satria 70.292

1. Prop vs #6/A Singapore (0-3) THW ban alcohol
2. Opp vs #48/H Zimbabwe (3-0) THBT newly democratised Arab states should not allow religious parties to participate in elections
3. Opp vs #38/G Mongolia (3-0) THW allow single parents in prison to raise children behind bars
4. Prop vs #8/B South Korea (1-2) THBT developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration
5. Opp vs #33/F Germany (3-0) THBT police should racial profiling to fight crime
6. Prop vs #13/C United Arab Emirates (0-3) THBT the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography
7. Prop vs #19/D Israel (0-3) TH supports child labour in the developing world
8. Opp vs #25/E Botswana (3-0) THBT states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights

WSDC 2012: Key Results and Motions

The 2012 World Schools Debating Championships ended yesterday in Cape Town with Scotland winning the final debate and Teoh Ten Jie from Singapore collecting his second best speaker award. He did not only top the individual tab last year but also led his team triumph and become the first champion from Asia.



Here are the key results from the world's most prestigious high school debating tournament. The numbers in the brackets after a team follow this order: post-tournament position, place after 8 preliminary rounds, pre-tournament rank and group. WSDC uses a 3-on-3 format but each team can have up to 5 members and rotate their turns. Only speakers who debated at least 4 times in the prelims can enter the top individual list.


Champions: Scotland #1/#5/#15/C -- 4th trophy

(Alfie Hinchliffe, Charlie Thomas, Ruth Cameron, April Shepherd, Josh Richards)

WSDC 2012 Champions - Team Scotland (Caledonian Mercury)

Finalists: Wales #2/#7/#10/B) -- 1st appearance in GF

(Amy Jones, David Wigley, Piers Digby, Helen Price)

Best New Nation: Swaziland (#28/28/#47/H)

Best ESL Team: Greece (#13/#12/#5/A)

Best EFL Team: Lithuania (#12/#11/#41/G)

Top 10 Speakers

1. Teoh Ren Jie (Singapore) -- back-to-back title
2. Sam Collier (England)
3. Alfie Hinchliffe (Scotland)
4. Michael Maklin (South Africa)
5. Natasha Rachman (England)
6. Akhsay Karia (England)
7. Ned Lis-Clarke (Australia)
8. Ben Goldstein (England)
9. Darion Hotan (Singapore)
10. Bo Seo (Australia)

Motions
R1. THW ban alcohol
R2. THBT newly democratised Arab states should not allow religious parties to participate in elections
R3. THW allow single parents in prison to raise children behind bars
R4. THBT developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration
R5. THBT police should use racial profiling to fight crime
R6. THBT the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography
R7. TH supports child labour in the developing world
R8. THBT states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights
OF. THBT the government should create special schools that teach in endangered indigenous languages
QF. THBT gay rights organizations should out gay public figures
SF. TH supports 100% tax on all inherited wealth
GF. TH regrets South Africa's decision to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes committed under Apartheid

Adjudication Test: THW make voting compulsory
Reserve: THBT government-run broacsting stations should give airtime to racist political parties (used in the delayed India v Mexico debate)

WSDC 2012: Philippines v Scotland; Wales v England in SF

#17/C Philippines killed another giant on their road to the semifinals of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships. After beating 2010 champions #4/A Canada in the octos, the Filipinos dashed #6/A Singapore's dream of defending their title. Singapore only lost a judge after 9 debates but the Philippines convinced all 5 judges on the panel to go their way. Their next opponent will be #15/C Scotland that beat #2/A Australia also with unanimous decision. 

The other semifinal will be between #10/B Wales and #6/A England who both got through on 3-2 decisions. All semifinalists suffered losses in the preliminaries.  England bowed to Australia and South Africa. Wales fell in debates against New Zealand and South Africa. The Philippines lost to the Netherlands and England. Scotland's only defeat was to South Korea.  The motion for the quarterfinals was "This House Believes That Gay Rights Organisations Should Out Gay Public Figures.

WSDC 2012: Break List

Reigning champion #6/A Singapore broke first into the knockouts of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships after winning all 8 preliminaries and only dropping one judge. Host #9/B South Africa and two-time winner #3/A New Zealand also entered the elimination stage without a loss. The darkhorses are #26/E Malaysia and #41/G Lithuania who collected 6 VP after taking the scalps of higher ranking teams. In R1, Malaysia provided the tournament's first shock with a win against 8-time champion and last year's finalist #2/A Australia. The two teams will meet again in the octofinal. The complete list after 8 rounds is as follows (Country, VP, Judges, Pre-Tourney Rank): 

1. Singapore (8-23) #6/A
2. South Africa (8-21) #9/B
3. New Zealand (8-21) #3/A
4. Australia (7-20) #2/A
5. Scotland (7-19) #15/C
6. England (6-20) #1/A
7. Wales (6-18) #10/B
8. Philippines (6-18) #17/C
9. Canada (6-17) #4/A
10. India (6-17) #18/C
11. Lithuania (6-17) #41/G
12. Greece (6-16) #5/A
13. Malaysia (6-15) #26/E
14. Hong Kong (5-16) #14/C
15. Ireland (5-16) #12/B
16. Korea (5-15) #8/B

Note: All A teams broke. #7/B Netherlands, which won all their debates last year, ended at #24 after losing 4 times in preliminaries. #11/B Pakistan missed the break on speaker points.

WSDC 2012: Round 5&6 Recap, Upsets and a Delay

The 2012 World Schools Debating Championships enters its last day of preliminaries with #29/E Indonesia at 3 wins, 10 judges after a loss to #13/C United Arab Emirates in R6 despite valiant efforts from our debaters. Currently, along with 5 other teams, Indonesia has the most judge votes for teams with 3 VP, giving us a chance to slip into the top 16. The next opponents are #19/D Israel and #25/E Botswana. Teams with 6 VP are assured to break while usually those with 5 and high judge votes still could make the cut.

Previously, Team Indonesia beat #33/F Germany, #38/G Mongolia and #48H Zimbabwe but lost to reigning champion #6/A Singapore and #8/B South Korea. This year Indonesia is represented by twins Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana from SMA 4 Denpasar, Alif Satria from SMA 8 Yogyakarta and Cheryl Cosslett from SMA 1 Bogor.

Upsets and a delay coloured impromptu R5 that debated the motion "This House Believes That the Police Should Use Racial Profiling when Fighting Crime". #1/A England saw their 38 consecutive prelim wins come to a halt after host #9/B South Africa broke that streak on a split decision while UAE bowed to #21/D Sri Lanka. There was a delay in the match between #18/C India and #20/D Mexico due to a disagreement over a decision to define "racial profiling" before the debate. The teams had to use a different topic. In R6, #47/H Swaziland, the second lowest-ranked, defeated #7/B Netherlands that did not lose a prelim last year.

The break list will be out tonight. All teams have dropped at least a judge. Singapore, South Africa and #3/A New Zealand  are the only ones unbeaten after 6 rounds but they will face strong teams in R8.

Search for WSDC 2012 Coach Ends Today

World Schools Debating Championships 2011 might have only been a month ago but the Ministry of Education is poised to kick off preparations for next year's edition due to the competition's January schedule. Today is the last registration day for those who want to coach Team Indonesia. The selected coach/es must be able to hit the ground running as a pool of pre-selected 24 high school speakers need to be whittled down to 4 members of the national squad by mid-October.

The upcoming preparations should learn lessons from WSDC 2011, especially because many countries may field the same debaters in January due to the short interval. Indonesia this year ended at #37 with a 2-6 record. For comparison to previous performances in WSDC, click here. Consolation from the last WSDC campaign came from Aceh debater Nudzran Yusya who slipped into the top 20 EFL speaker list with an average point of 69.9. As a comparison, the best speaker of the tournament Teoh Ren Jie from champion Singapore averaged at 74.7.

The next WSDC will be held in South Africa, the same country where Team Indonesia first competed in a WSDC in 2001. Then, Donny Eryastha (SMA 2 Bengkulu), Marlisa Soepeno (SMA 17 Makassar), Ina Damayanti (SMA Taruna Nusantara), Aulia Astagina (SMA 6 Yogyakarta) and captain Rusdi Ghazali Malueka (SMA 3 Pontianak) introduced Indonesia on the WSDC stage by grabbing the the Best New Team award after winning 3 out of 8 mandatory debates.

WSDC 2011: Trophy Goes to Singapore, First Champ from Asia

#15 Singapore became the first Asian winner of the World Schools Debating Championships after beating #4 Australia on a 7-2 decision in the finals of the 2011 edition in Dundee, Scotland. Debaters from the tiny, modern city-state, where one party has ruled alone since its conception, successfully knocked down the motion "This House Believes That Autocracy is Doomed in the Age of Facebook".

The road to glory was no cakewalk. Team Singapore, which reached the finals in 2003 and 2007, barely broke into the knockouts this year. They lost 3 of their 8 preliminary rounds, bowing to New Zealand, Pakistan and the Netherlands, an EFL team. Singapore met New Zealand again in the octofinals where they scraped a close 3-2 win. The revenge was the turning point as they progressed to the throne with more convincing victories.

This year Singapore fielded an experienced team. All 5 members, including WSDC 2011 best speaker Teoh Ren Jie, had debated in past editions. Four debaters came from Raffles Junior College - Ashish Kumar, Benjamin Mak, Adil Hakeem, and captain Teoh, who competed in 2010 and 2009 - while the fifth member was Li Ki Ng from Hwa Chong Institute.

The next WSDC will be held in Cape Town, South Africa from January 17 to 27, 2012 - five months away. The close timing may force countries to have teams filled with returning members. It is unclear whether that will apply for Indonesia after the 2011 team ended their journey in Dundee at #37 with a 2-6 record. Indonesia's one consolation was Nudzran Yusya from SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh slipped into the Top 20 EFL speaker list.

WSDC 2011: Australia v Singapore in Final Debate

#4 Australia and #15 Singapore, two countries that border Indonesia, will battle it out in the grandfinal of the 2011 Worlds Schools Debating Championships in Dundee tomorrow. Australia will propose the motion "This House Believes That Autocracy is Doomed in the Age of Facebook" as revolutions in the Arab world show how citizens have been using social media in building resistance against their governments.

The finalists are perrenial favourites in WSDC. Australian teams have won 8 times, including in the 2003 final against Singapore. However, this year's tournament has been far from predictable. Australia lost a preliminary round against South Africa while Singapore felt defeat 3 times, including in the hands of an EFL nation - the Netherlands.

Darkhorses clearly stole the attention with strong performances in the prelims but their shine quickly faded like comets after the break. The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and South Korea, countries where English is not the main language, broke third, fifth and sixth, with impressive scorelines, into the octofinals where they all fizzled. In fact, all teams in the quarterfinals came from current or former parts of the British empire.

Team Indonesia missed the break after losing 6 out of 8 prelims and finishing at #37, a record low. Click the WSDC button on the navigation bar for details and stats of Indonesia's participation on the most prestigious high school debate competition on the planet.