Victoria Wellington Wins Australs 2014, Third Title in 5 Years

#1 Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Jodie O'Neill, Nicholas Cross) championed the 2014 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships after defeating #3 University of Sydney 2 (Evie Woodforde, Joanna Connolly, Emma Johnstone) in the grand final in Otago, New Zealand. The trio reached the final last year but lost to another Sydney 2 team with different members. It was Victoria's sixth Australs title, the third triumph in the last five years. Victoria's Asher Emanuel also became the best speaker of the tournament. International Islamic University 1 (Ameera Moore, Mubarrat Wassey, Ahmad Hazim Norahmadi)  won the English-as-Second Language category. Ameera Moore and Mubarrat Wassey repeated last year's achievement.

Australs 2013: Key Results & Motions

Champions: University of Sydney 2 (Daniel Swain, Paul Karp, Nina Ubaldi)
Finalists: Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Jodie O'Neill, Nick Cross)
Best Speaker: Daniel Swain (University of Sydney 2)
ESL Champions: International Islamic University 1 (Syed Saddiq, Mubarrat Wassey, Ameera Moore)
ESL Finalists: University of Hong Kong 2 (Griffith Chen, Rayna Wang, Helena Hu)
ESL Best Speaker: Syed Saddiq (International Islamic University 1)

Best Indonesian Speaker: Elghafiky Bimardhika (Universitas Indonesia 2)
Best Indonesian Team: Universitas Indonesia 1 (Aulia Anggita, Dennys Kapa, Egalita Irfan) - #1ESL and ESL Quarterfinalists   

MOTIONS

R1 - Education
1. THBT universities should not have patents.
2. THW abolish tenure for university professors.
3. THBT states that don't provide free tertiary education should subsidize career paths for students that are useful for the state.

R2 - Sports
1. THBT the English Premier League should significantly limit the number of foreign players per team
2. THBT professional sporting clubs should only be owned by the local authority of the area they represent.
3. THBT we should ban players' unions in major sporting leagues

R3 - Crime
1. THBT we should require criminal judges to be employed in a prison for 6 months prior to appointment to the bench.
2. THBT illegally gathered evidence and information should be admissible in criminal trials
3. THBT individuals who commit minor crimes should be allowed to convert their sentences into corporal punishment

R4 - Media
1. THBT we should require all free-to-air TV stations to have and adequately fund 60min of ad-free news in prime time.
2. THBT journalists should be required to lodge their sources with a press council for verification.
3. THBT CEOs of major news companies should be democratically elected in open public elections.

R5 - Economics
1. THBT countries should not seek to regulate digital currencies like the Bitcoin
2. THBT prohibit credit rating agencies from disclaiming legal liability for the inaccuracy of their ratings
3. THW make lenders liable for the losses of low-income customers who are not given independent legal advice

R6 - Social Politics
1. THBT we should make legislative deliberations & decisions on retirement age and superannuation private, anonymous, confidential and by the secret ballot.
2. THBT we should support granting private administrative control of cities on the basis of charters
3. THBT gay rights group should disavow the "Gay is the New Black" campaign.

R7 - United States
1. THBT the US should pay Chinese activists to combat the efforts of China's '50 Cent Party'
2. THBT Detroit should sell the Detroit Institute of Art's 1 billion USD collection to service its debts
3. THBT Obama should grant Edward Snowden amnesty from all charges

R8 - Women
1. THW refuse classification to films and TV shows that fail the Bechdel Test.
2. THW pay parental leave as equal and non-transferable portions of leave for each parent
3. THBT progressive women's groups should refrain from attacking female politicians regardless of their policies

OPEN Pre-OF - Social Policy
1. THBT the infanticide of newborns should not be punished beyond the penalty for unlawful late-term abortions
2. THBT it was wrong for parents to accept confidential settlements from the Catholic Church on behalf of their children for abuse committed by clergymen
3. THBT Islamic states should set the curriculum of madrassas

OPEN OF - Environment
1. THBT we should abolish Green Belt regulations.
2. THW rewrite animal welfare standards to be uniform for each species of animal, regardless the animal's use/context.
3. THBT Obama should use the Environmental Protection Agency and other executive powers to aggressively combat climate change

OPEN QF - Middle East
1. THW support aggressive Palestinian protests, like property destruction, in illegal Israeli settlements
2. THBT the Muslim Brotherhood should cooperate with the Adly administration and accept cabinet positions for ending protests against the interim government
3. THBT we regret the rise of the nation state in the Arab World

OPEN SF - Law
1. THBT we should abolish the criminal law, expand tort law and provide extra funding for the litigants
2. THBT the standard or 'responsibleness' in criminal cases should never be influenced by prejudicial assumptions, even if held by the average person in that society.
3. THBT the tax offices should be allowed to retrospectively declare acts of aggressive accounting, which expliot tax loopholes, illegal.

GRAND FINAL
THBT women should be criminally liable for harm to foetuses in utero as a result of their lifestyle choices

ESL QF - Politics
1. THBT minimum standards of living should be legally enforceable in developing countries
2. THBT political parties should abolish their military wings
3. THBT we should select only women as diplomats to countries with poor rights standards for women

ESL SF - International Relations
1. THBT China should establish military bases overseas.
2. THBT Palestinians should not accept citizenship from Arab Nations.
3. THBT we should require UN approval for the giving of military aid

ESL FINAL
THBT the media should not have broadcast the footage of British soldier, Lee Rigby, being murdered in London.

Australs 2013: Sydney Wins 16th Trophy, IIU Tops ESL

#1 University of Sydney 2 (Daniel Swain, Nina Ubaldi, Paul Karp) won the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship yesterday without dropping a match, giving their school its 16th victory in the world's second most prestigious debating competition. In the final they defeated the motion "That women should be criminally liable for harm to foetuses in utero as a result of their lifestyle choices" proposed by #2 Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Nick Cross, Jodie O'Neill). Daniel Swain also topped the speaker tab.

In the ESL category, #2ESL International Islamic University 1 (Ameera Moore, Syed Saddiq, Mubarat Wassey) took the crown after outclassing #5ESL Hong Kong University 2 (Griffith Chen, Rayna Wang, Helen Hu). Syed Saddiq bagged the best ESL speaker award. Two Universitas Indonesia teams broke into the ESL elimination stage but both fell in the quarterfinals. UI 1 (Aulia Anggita, Dennys Kapa, Egalita Irfan) had a 5-3 win-loss preliminary record, one of the best ever by an Indonesian team.

Australs 2013: Sydney v Victoria in Open Final; IIU v Hong Kong in ESL

Venue of the 2013 Australs ESL Grand Final

The main final of the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships will showcase the best of Australia and New Zealand, the only two countries from where winners come from since the event began in 1975.

#1 University of Sydney 2 (Daniel Swain, Nina Ubaldi, Paul Karp) will seek to give their school, the most successful in the competition's history, its 16th trophy. Their opponents, #2 Victoria University of Wellington (Asher Emanuel, Jodie O'Neill, Nick Cross), come from the only non-Australian institution that has won Australs and the Kiwis want to bring the title back to NZ for the 6th time.   

In the ESL final, #2ESL International Islamic University Malaysia 1, a team from the Asian powerhouse that usually skips this lower category, will face #5ESL Hong Kong University 2. Universitas Indonesia defeated an HKU squad in the 2011 Australs ESL final. This year two UI teams advanced into the ESL elimination stage but fell in the quarterfinals. Teams from Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Atma Jaya also competed but failed to get enough points in the prelims to pass the cut. 

WUDC 2013: Key Results

Champions: #48 University of Monash B (James Beavis & Nita Rao)
Finalists: #2 University of Sydney B (Paul Karp & Dominic Bowes), #6 University of Auckland A (Stephanie Thompson & Ben Milsom), #24 University of Otago A (Alec Dawson & Kieran Bunn)
ESL Winners: #14ESL BRAC University A (Ratib Mortuza Ali & Aaqib Farhan Hossain)
EFL Winners: #5EFL University of Porto A (Ari da Cunha & Tiago Laranjeiro)

Top 10 Speakers
1. Pam Cohn (University of London Union A)
1. Chris Bisset (Monash University A)
3. Catherine Murphy (University of London Union A)
4. Madeline Schultz (Monash University A)
5. Paul Karp (University of Sydney B)
5. Christine Simpson (University College Dublin L&H A)
7. Dominic Bowes (University of Sydney B)
8. Elle Jones (University of Sydney B)
9. Mark Haughton (University College Dublin L&H A)
10. Seb Templeton (Victoria University of Wellington A)
10. Nita Rao (Monash University B)

Top 5 ESL Speakers
1. Martin Kiik (Harvard University C)
2. Arinah Najwa (International Islamic University A)
3. Syed Saddiq (International Islamic University A)
4. Karin Merckens (University of Leiden A)
5. Daan Welling (University of Leiden A)
5. Senna Maatoug (University of Leiden C)
5. Henk van Zullen (University of Groningen A)

Top 5 EFL Speakers
1. Ary da Cunha (University of Porto A)
2. Viktor Prlja (University of Belgrade A)
3. Rodolfo Mendez (Monterrey Institute of Technology A)
4. Radu Tiganas (University of Bucharest A)
5. David Lopez (Monterrey Institute of Technology A)

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.

Australs 2012: Monash Gets Trophy, Final to Go Live

Current world champion Monash University will add the 2012 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship trophy into its cabinet after 2 of its teams reached the final. Since its conception in 1975, the grand finals of Australs had different universities fighting for the crown. Monash has shattered that record. Unbeaten #1 Monash 1 (Chris Bisset, Madeline Schultz, Kiran Iyer) will face #7 Monash 2 (Colette Mintz, Gemma Buckley, James Beavis) later in Wellington, New Zealand and the match will be aired live on their association's website and streaming channel. In the semifinal, they eliminated host Victoria University and archrival University of Sydney respectively.    

Two Asian teams, International Islamic University and Ateneo de Manila University, broke into the knockouts but fell in the octofinals. Last year, National University of Singapore went all the way to the grand final. In that same occassion, Universitas Indonesia won the ESL category. UI sent the only Indonesian team to the 2012 edition but they failed to make the cut. Japan's International Christian University and University of Macao are the finalists this year. The Indonesian twist this year is that former UI debater Melanie Tedja once partnered with one of the finalists, Monash 2's Gemma Buckley, in the 2009 Australs.

WUDC 2012: Key Results

Champions: #28 Monash University B (Amit Golder & Kiran Iyer)
Finalists: #2 University of Oxford B (Steph Bell & Jen Coyne), #8 Stanford University A (Faris Mohiuddin & Michael Baer), #18 University of Sydney B (Elle Jones & Daniel Swain)
ESL Champions: #1ESL University of Tel Aviv A (Omer Nevo & Sella Nevo)
EFL Champions: #2EFL DA Ewha University A (Ji-Sook Kang & Hyo-Cheon Kim)

Top 10 Speakers

1. Ben Woolgar (University of Oxford A/ENG)
2. Steph Bell (University of Oxford B/ENG)
3. Stephen Whittington (Victoria University of Wellington A/NZL)
4. Paul Karp (University of Sydney A/AUS)
5. Hugh Burns (University of Oxford A/ENG)
6. Michael Baer (Stanford University A/USA)
7. Patrick Caldwell (University of Sydney A/AUS)
8. Udayan Mukherjee (Victoria University of Wellington A/NZL)
9. Chris Bisset (Monash University C/AUS)
10. Catherine Murphy (Trinity College Dublin Historical Society B/IRE)

Top 5 ESL Speakers

1. Omer Nevo (University of Tel Aviv A/ISR)
2. Sella Nevo (University of Tel Aviv A/ISR)
3. Danique van Koppenhagen (University of Utrecht A/NLD)
4. Rogier Baart (University of Leiden A/NLD)
5. Tomas Beerthuis (University of Utrecht A/NLD)

Top 5 EFL Speakers
1. Goran Jankuloski (University of Belgrade C/SER)
2. Roderick Sibarani (Universitas Indonesia A/INA)
3. Ahmad Naufal Dai (Universitas Indonesia C/INA)
3. Yuki Tominaga (University of Tokyo A/JPN)
5. Fumihiko Sano (University of Tokyo B/JPN)

WUDC 2012: Updates & Motions from Prelim Day 2

The second day of preliminaries at the 2012 World Universities Debating Championships in Manila had an Indonesian team scoring back-to-back wins, the emergence of an unofficial twitter tab and long motions. There will be 3 more rounds today but none of their results will be announced at the chambers. The tension will peak around the turn of the year when the main, ESL and EFL breaks are revealed.

Universitas Indonesia C (Ahmad Naufal Dai & Irene Severina) is the top Indonesian pair entering R7 with 11 VPs after winning R4 and R5. Binus International A (Astrio Feligent & Christian Leonardo), which had a spirited comeback after tough early rounds, ended Prelim Day 2 with 10 VPs. UI A (Adlini Ilma Ghaisany & Roderick Sibarani) and Universitas Gadjah Mada A (Tanti Kosmiyati & Amir Abdul Aziz) follow with 9 VPs.

There are also several teams on 8 VPs, including Binus University A (Bryan Gunawan & Sabarudin Adinugroho) and Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara A (Teddy Trihatmojo & Halim Nuswantoro). Naufal and Irene still can break into the main knockouts while the rest need to boost their performance to earn spots in the ESL/EFL debates.

For the first time in WUDC history, a shadow tab made from the wave of tweets coming from Manila has emerged. Click here for the active spread that also shows winning possibilities ala sports betting. One of its masterminds is Can Okar, the 2010 WUDC Chief Adjudicator. The tab covers more than 170 from almost 400 participating teams in WUDC 2012. Less than half but the powerhouses are all there.

According to this unoffical tab, the top 3 teams come from Victoria University of Wellington, University of Oxford and Monash University -- the usual suspects. Victoria B has 17 VPs, one short from the perfect score. The highest team from a non-Anglo Saxon nation is Ateneo de Manila University A with 13 VPs. Several online predictions believe only those with 19+ points could break this year. In previous WUDCs, many teams with 18 VPs could slip into the knockouts.

Motions in the first 6 rounds did not touch current affairs. No motions on the Arab Spring, Palestine, Euro debt, US foreign policy, China or the Internet yet. Many of them are long with complex forms and critical tweets have started to float around. The motions on prelim day 2 are as follows:

R4 THW require individuals to use all their wealth beyond $5 million for philantrophic projects
R5 THW require deaf parents to send their children, whether deaf or hearing, to mainstream schools for their primary and secondary education
R6 TH supports politicians who pass progressive legislation even when it is contrary to the wishes of the democratic electorate

WUPID 2011: Victoria Victorious on First Try

#2 Victoria University of Wellington (Richard D'Ath & Seb Templeton) won the 2011 World Universities Peace Invitational Debate, outwitting #1 University of Oxford in the final that ended today with a 5-4 split decision. The two other finalists were Ateneo de Manila University and University of Cambridge.

Victoria and Oxford had been at each other throughout the tournament that funded the best debating universities to come to Malaysia. Victoria came second in R3, R4 and R5 to Oxford while the latter's only dropped point came from R2 when the former triumphed. This year is this first time Victoria was invited to WUPID.


In the final, Opening Government Oxford proposed the motion "This House Believes That Unfettered Capitalism is the Greatest Obstacle to World Peace" while Victoria knocked it down from Closing Opposition. Oxford's Benjamin Woolgar topped the speaker tab.  The winning pair six months ago championed the Australasian Intervarsities Debating Championships.

Two Indonesian teams competed in the 2011 WUPID. One of them, Binus International A (Astrio Feligent & Christian Leonardo) almost broke into the knockouts after collecting 9 VPs, the same amount of points gained by #10-#16 teams. Slightly lower speaker scores denied the pair.  

WUPID 2011: Breaking Teams & Prelim Motions

The 2011 World Universities Peace Invitational Debate organizers announced today the 16 teams that can proceed into the knockouts. Universitas Indonesia and Binus International teams competed in this tournament, which funds the world's top debating universities to come to Malaysia every year, but they failed to break. Bipeds A (Astrio Feligent & Christian Leonardo) came very close with 9 VPs, the same amount of points that #10-16 had. Those who did advance are as follows:

1. University of Oxford A
2. Victoria University of Wellington A
3. University of New South Wales A
4. Yale University A
5. Ateneo de Manila University B
6. Ateneo de Manila University A
7. Monash University A
8. University of Cambridge A
9. Monash University B
10. University of Queensland A
11. Cornell University A
12. University of Melbourne B
13. Nanyang Technological University B
14. National University of Singapore A
15. University of Melbourne A
16. Universiti Teknologi Mara B

The motions in the preliminaries:
R1. THW abolish permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council
R2. With the benefit of hindsight, TH regrets awarding President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize
R3. THBT Asia should welcome Chinese military expansion
R4. THBT Malaysia should embrace the right to peaceful assembly
R5. THBT the peaceful resolution of conflicts in South America must include the international legalization of cocaine

Australs 2011: Key Results

CHAMPIONS: #4 Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Seb Templeton, Richard D'Ath, Udayan Mukherjee)
FINALISTS : #6 National University of Singapore 1 (Imran Rahim, Sadhana Rai, Robin Teo)
ESL CHAMPIONS: #7ESL Universitas Indonesia 1 (Dimas Hokka, Riza Aryani, Subarkah Syafruddin)
ESL FINALISTS: #4ESL University of Hong Kong 1 (Abel Lam, Fiona Chong, Benjamin Yu)
BEST SPEAKER : #1 Eleanor Jones (University of Sydney 1)
BEST REPLY SPEAKER : #1 Eleanor Jones (University of Sydney 1)
BEST SPEAKER IN FINAL : #15 Udayan Mukherjee (Victoria University of Wellington 1)
BEST ESL SPEAKER : #38 Arinah Najwa (International Islamic University 1)

Indonesian Results in Australs 2011

Universitas Indonesia 1 - ESL CHAMPIONS
Prelims : 4-4/#7ESL/#61; Elims : 3 wins
Wins: University of Hong Kong 1 (ESL Final), International Christian University 1 (ESL Semi), Universiti Malaya 1 (ESL Quarters), University of Peking 1 (R8), Chung Ang University 1 (R5), Macquarie University 4 (R4), Underwood International College 1 (R2)
Losses: Monash University 3 (R7), Victoria University of Wellington 3 (R6), University of Auckland 2 (R3), Binus International 1 (R1)
Speaker Ranks: #179 Riza Aryani, #208 M. Subarkah Syafruddin, #209 Dimas Hokka

Binus International 1 - ESL QUARTERFINALIST
Prelims : 4-4/#3ESL/#51; Elims : 1 loss
Wins: Chung Ang University (R7), Nanyang Technological University 1 (R4), University of Technology Sydney 1 (R3), Universitas Indonesia 1 (R1)
Losses: International Christian University 1 (ESL Quarters), International Islamic University 1 (R8), Singapore Management University 1 (R6), University of Sydney 4 (R5), University of Melbourne (R2)
Speaker Ranks: #122 Christian Leonardo, #135 Astrio Feligent, #180 Invi Atmanegara

Institut Teknologi Bandung 1 
Prelims: 2-6/#105
Wins: Thammasat University 1 (R4), Taiwan Wenzao Ursuline College 1 (R6)
Losses: Universiti Putra 1 (R8), University of Macao 1 (R7), Chinese University of Hong Kong 1 (R5), HELP University 1 (R3), University of Sydney 6 (R2), University of Korea 3 (R1)
Speaker Ranks: #274 Aryani Atmosudirjo, #294 Diedra Putri, #295 Gladys Brigita

Victoria 1 Grab Australs 2011, Best Speaker in Final

Venue of the Australs 2011 finals

#4 Victoria University of Wellington (Richard D'Ath, Seb Templeton, Udayan Mukherjee) emerged as the champion of the 2011 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships, keeping the trophy that the New Zealand school won last year. In the grand final, they defeated #6 National University of Singapore (Imran Rahim, Sadhana Rai, Robin Teo).

Udayan Mukherjee, part of last year's winning Victoria team, also was awarded the best speaker in the finals. Elle Jones from University of Sydney grabbed the overall best speaker prize, also known as the Martin Sorensen Trophy. Her team, which broke second from the preliminary rounds, lost to NUS 1 in the semifinals earlier today.


The winning team successfully negated the motion "THBT Nations Should Use Bounty Hunters to Capture or Kill Their Enemies" in the final that took place in Seoul. It was the second non-Australian final in as many years following a long stretch of Australian  dominance in the top tournament in the Asia-Oceania region.


Since 1975, whenever a non-Australian team won the Australs, debaters from the Land Down Under would take the trophy back the next year. In fact, from 1983 to 2010, Victoria was the only non-Australian institution that became champions. And they only could that twice. Besides last year, it also won in 1998.

Australs 2011 was the first time a Korean institution, Chung Ang University, hosted the championships. Victoria will be the host next year.

No Australians in Australs 2011 Grand Final

There will be no team from Australia in the final debate of the 2011 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships  -- just like last year. Reigning champion #4 Victoria University of Wellington 1 from New Zealand today will defend their title against #6 National University of Singapore 1, which won the top 3-on-3 Asian debating contest last May.

Since 1975, whenever a non-Australian team won the Australs, debaters from the Land Down Under would take the trophy back the next year. In fact, from 1983 to 2010, Victoria was the only non-Australian institution that became champions of the top debating tournament in the Asia-Oceania region. And they only could that twice. Besides last year, Victoria also won in 1998.

From the beginning, Australians showed they were keen to dominate Australs 2011 as they arrived in Seoul as the biggest contingent -- more than a quarter of the 113 participating squads. University of Sydney sent 7 teams and all of them managed to slip into the top 24 but only 4 could break due to the institutional cap rule. Monash University 1 topped the tab after 8 preliminary rounds and Sydney 1 came second. However, Victoria 1 and NUS 1 ruined the script after they eliminated Monash 1 and Sydney 1, respectively, in the semifinals earlier today.

Victoria 1 is led by Udayan Mukherjee who was on last year's winning team. His two partners are Seb Templeton and Richard D'Ath who reached the semifinals of Australs 2010 as Victoria 2.

NUS 1 (Imran Rahim, Sadhana Rai, Robin Teo) may make another historical milestone if they can take the crown. No team from outside Australia and New Zealand has won the Australs. The final will take place at South Korea's National Assembly, which is also the venue for the debate to grab the ESL title between Universitas Indonesia and University of Hong Kong.    

Australs 2011: NUS Only Asian Team in Final Four

#6 National University of Singapore 1 (Imran Rahim, Sadhana Rai, Robin Teo), the reigning Asian champion for 3-on-3 debating, will be the only team from Asia in the main semifinals of the 2011 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships. NUS 1 defeated fellow Asians #3 Ateneo de Manila University in the quarterfinal and will face hot favourites #2 University of Sydney 1.

In the other semifinal, Monash University 1 (Madelaine Schultz, Gemma Buckley, Chris Bisset), who topped the tab, will debate a team from last year's Australs champion Victoria University of Wellington. No team from outside Australia and New Zealand has won the Australs, the world's largest debating competition using the uninterrupted 3-on-3 format, since it started in 1975.  

UI Debaters Reach Australs 2011 ESL Final

#7ESL Universitas Indonesia 1 (Dimas Hokka, Riza Aryani, Subarkah Syafruddin) made it into the final ESL debate of the 2011 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships and will meet #4ESL University of Hong Kong 1 in a fight for the title. In the semifinals, UI eliminated #6ESL International Christian University from Japan while Hong Kong knocked out the last standing team from host South Korea, #8ESL Ewha University's EDiS.

UI's journey in Australs 2011 started with sleeping like hobos at Seoul's airport and losing to fellow countrymen Binus International in the first debate but Hokka, Riza and Sume bounced back and showed their mettle. Their road to the ESL final was as follows:

Preliminaries (4-4, #7ESL/#61)
R1 v. Binus International 1 (L)
R2 v. Underwood International College 1 (W)
R3 v. Auckland University 2 (L) -- opponent reached main octofinals
R4 v. Macquarie University 4 (W)
R5 v. Chung Ang University 1 (W)
R6 v. Victoria University of Wellington 3 (L)
R7 v. Monash University 3 (L) -- opponent reached main pre-octofinals
R8 v. Peking University 1 (W)
QF v. #2ESL Universiti Malaya 1 (W)
SF v. #6ESL International Christian University 1 (W)

In 2009, UI also met a team from Hong Kong --The Chinese University of Hong Kong-- in the ESL final of the Australs. Tirza Reinata, Intan Hadijah and Frieda Siregar outdebated them and brought home the trophy. Indonesia hopes history will repeat itself tomorrow at the Australs 2011 ESL Final.

Indonesia's Australs Fate Depends on Silent Rounds

Three Indonesian teams need substantial wins in the last 2 rounds of the 2011 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships to advance into the double-octofinals or the ESL knockouts. However, R7 and R8 are silent rounds, forcing debaters to wait until the break announcement this evening for the results.

After 6 rounds, Universitas Indonesia 1 (Dimas Hokka, Riza Aryani, Subarkah Syafruddin) and Binus International 1 (Astrio Feligent, Christian Leonardo, Invi Atmanegara) both are at 3-3 after competing against the best in the tournament. Only teams with 5VP have clear chances to sail through into the main elimination rounds. The best 8 ESL teams are eligible to compete in a separate contest. A 4-4 record may be enough but the threshold may be higher due to large participation from Northeast Asia this year.

UI and Bipeds teams had colorful runs. They met in R1 with the latter coming out triumphant. In subsequent rounds, Bipeds knocked down Asian giant Nanyang Technological University and University of Technology Sydney but lost to Australian powerhouses Melbourne and Sydney. UI's two other defeats were in the hands of last year's champion Victoria University and runner-up Auckland University, both from New Zealand. UI defeated Australia's Macquarie University and Korean colleges, Underwood and Chung Ang.

Another Indonesian team from Institut Teknologi Bandung (Gladys Brigita, Diedra Putri, Aryani) entered R7 with 2 wins. UI adjudicator Ignes Pricillia has chaired 5 out of 6 rounds while ITB judge Dito Krista was chair in R6.