World Schools Debating Championship 2010 (Doha, Qatar) (Original post on March 7, 2010 by Alaka Haldar)

It's been 2 weeks since Team Bangladesh returned from the World Schools Debating Championship 2010 in Doha, Qatar [I should have blogged before, but I've been settling into life in Dhaka ]. We return with 5/8 wins [with 16/24 judges voting for us; each round had a panel of 3] and a rank of 18/57 at the Octofinal break. The last time Bangladesh broke was during its 2006 entry into the WSDC arena with a rank of 10th, and even though we came fairly close this time, we would have still needed 52 more points or 1 more ballot to make the cut. Nevertheless, experiences like the WSDC can never be summed up by a tally of marks. It was an amazing learning experience for us, and we've made an amazing bunch of memories that range from the amusing [Labib falling down while running up a descending elevator at Doha International Airportwhile we were returning] to the mind-blowing [how often do you get to ride camels through the desert, dismount and then roll down sand dunes to the bluest of seas?]. You can find a more detailed round-up of our journey in my article from the Star Campus magazine of the Daily Star[The Doha Diary: http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/03/02/feature_doha.htm].

Here's our win-loss record [odd rounds were prepared, even rounds impromptu] for those interested:

10 Feb, Round 1: That we should support military intervention in SomaliaProp: Canada [2], Opp: Bangladesh [1] 

10 Feb, Round 2: That we should make physical education compulsory in schoolsProp: Bangladesh [3], Opp: Palestine [0] 

11 Feb, Round 3: That every country should have the right to possess nuclear weaponsProp: Scotland [1], Opp: Bangladesh [2] 

11 Feb, Round 4: That we should support quotas for women in high government positions
Prop: Bangladesh [1], Opp: Sudan [2]

14 Feb, Round 5: That doctors should report evidence of marital abuse to the police
Prop: Bangladesh [2], Opp: the Netherlands [1]  

14 Feb, Round 6: That developing nations should have the right to give priority to development ahead of the environment
Prop: Sweden [2], Opp: Bangladesh [1]  

15 Feb, Round 7: That terrorist suspects should have a right to trial in civilian courts
Prop: Bangladesh [3], Opp: Indonesia [0]  

15 Feb, Round 8: That we should legalize performance-enhancing drugs
Prop: Lithuania [0], Opp: Bangladesh [3]
 

If you're wondering what we did during the 2-day break between rounds 4 and 5, we went on a desert + beach safari [outskirts of Doha: we saw an oasis and cruised over sand dunes on a land rover] on the 12th, where we had a bonfire party on the beach. Team Bangladesh spent the 13th prepping for the next day's debates while other teams went to the camel and horse racetracks as well as the Museum of Islamic Art. On the 14th, we missed the amazing Vienna Philharmonic to prep some more, but it paid off and was a necessary sacrifice considering that our civilian court case was in tatters before we'd started patching it up on the night of the 13th.

The teams that made the Octofinals were [in breaking order, along with the number of wins]: Australia [8], Canada [8], Singapore [8], Greece [8], England [8], Slovenia [7], New Zealand [6], Wales [6], Israel [6], the Netherlands [6], Sri Lanka [6], India [6], Pakistan [5], Scotland [5], Ireland [5], Hong Kong [5].

16 Feb, Octofinal: That we should have no law restricting freedom of speech
Teams proceeding: England, Canada, Singapore, Pakistan, Wales, Australia, Slovenia, New Zealand 

17 Feb, Quarterfinal: That compensation should be paid for the injustices committed by past generations
Teams proceeding: England, Canada, Singapore, Wales

17 Feb, Semifinal: That the United States should withdraw from the Middle East
Finalists: England + Canada

18 Feb, Grand Final: That Governments should Never Bail out Big Companies
Champion: Canada [Prop], on a 8-3 split
 

That's more or less my wrap-up on the amazing WSDC 2010 [we hear that it's been the grandest ever, and that Dundee has rather big shoes to fill ]. For more news, such as speaker rankings, visit: The Official WSDC Blog and The Official WSDC 2010 website. Photos are up all over Facebook, but I'll try to put some up here as well. Even though I've officially graduated from ESS and will no longer debate for the school, I'll update this site time to time until we can get the ESSDC juniors organized [it's all kids at the club now. hehe] and find someone to take over this site.

Till then, hugs and cookies...
Alaka