WSDC Blog

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ESL awards

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:05:00 +0000

BEST ESL TEAM.

SLOVENIA

Congratulations also to the second-best ESL team Greece
and the third best Sri Lanka.

TOP ESL SPEAKERS

(Such speakers may individually qualify for ESL status although their team overall may not.)

5. Jeewon Yoo (Korea)
4. Do Kwon (Korea)
3. Muhammed Gulzar (Pakistan)
2. Filippos Lekkas (Greece)

AND THE BEST ESL SPEAKER FOR 2010 is.....

1. SHEHRYAR SHEIKH from Pakistan.

For the ESL tab containing the top 30 speakers, click
here.

EFL awards

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:50:00 +0000

Shaheen unmasked.

BEST EFL TEAM.

THE NETHERLANDS

Congratulations also to the second-best EFL team Romania
and the third best Germany.

TOP 5 EFL SPEAKERS

(Such speakers may individually qualify for EFL status although their team overall may not.)

5.Inka Mobinger (Germany)
4.Elisabeth Van Lieshout (The Netherlands)
3.Sanjit Dias (Sri Lanka)
2 Zan Zveplan(Slovenia)

AND THE BEST EFL SPEAKER FOR 2010 is.....

1. LEONIE BEYRLE from Germany

For the EFL tab containing the top 30 speakers, click here.

New Nation awards

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:25:00 +0000

NEW NATION AWARD.
This is awarded to the highest ranking new team, that is one participating for the first time ever at WSDC.

Our best new nation is: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
Congratulations also to the second-best new team - China - and the third-best - Sudan.

NEW NATION SPEAKER AWARDS

5. Jiali Li (China)
4. Calvin Cox (Sudan)
3. Sara Smylie (UAE)
2. Raeesa Munshi(UAE)

and the top new nation speaker is....
1. ANIRUDH SIVARAM (UAE)

Honouring our breaking teams

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:14:00 +0000

Following our top 2 teams and top 10 speakers in previous blogs, let's celebrate the successes of other stellar performers at this championship.

We honour our octofinals:
Finishing 16th: Hong Kong
Finishing 15th: Ireland
Finishing 14th: Scotland
Finishing 13th: India
Finishing 12th: Sri Lanka
Finishing 11th: The Netherlands
Finishing 10th: Israel
Finishing 9th: Greece

Our quarter finalists;
Finishing 8th: Pakistan
Finishing 7th: New Zealand
Finishing 6th: Slovenia
Finishing 5th: Australia

Our semi finalists:
Finishing 4th: Wales
Finishing 3rd: Singapore

We congratulate our runner up team England and of course our victors and 2010 World Champions Canada.

Team Tab and other results

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:40:00 +0000

Here is the team tab for all 57 nations for WSDC 2010, again ranked on the 8 preliminary rounds.

For the record, the list of participating teams is:

Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Bermuda
Bosnia
Botswana
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
England
Estonia
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Japan
Korea
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lithuania
Malaysia
Mexico
Mongolia
Montenegro
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palestine
Peru
Philippines
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
UAE
Uganda
USA
Wales

Click here for the results by round for the preliminary rounds. Shaheen's break round results are here.

This is the list of all the resolutions debated at WSDC 2010.

And this is the list of those nations classified as ESL or EFL. The list was released by the CAs on the first day.

I am awaiting confirmation by the CAs on the other speaker and nation awards but hope to have those placed on the blog as soon as possible.

Top 10 speaker awards ( and top 100 speakers' list)

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Greetings again everyone.

Here is the list of the top 10 speakers who were awarded and recognised at the closing night awards dinner in Doha. And what a fabulous night it was. Congratulations to them all.

10.Hasan Dindjer (England)
9. Georgina Barker (Scotland)
8. Maria English (New Zealand)
7. Shehryar Sheikh (Pakistan)
6. Gregory Farquhar (England)
5. Manasvin (Veenu) Goswami (Canada)
4. Eleanor Gordon-Smith (Australia)
3. Charlotte Thomas (Australia)
2. Laura Birchall (Australia)

And the best speaker for WSDC 2010.....(drum roll....)

1. JOANNA CONNOLLY (Australia).

I don't have any photos I'm sorry because I had to be on stage on the awards night but if you have photos and the speakers and their families are happy that I publish them on the blog, let me know.

The list of the top 100 speakers, based on the preliminary rounds and debating at least half of those rounds, is right here.

And the winner of WSDC 2010 is......

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:41:00 +0000

CANADA 8-3! A win for the first time in 22 years....but the best wine always takes time!!!!

Hope this fabulous win makes the wait (and the hard work by Canadan debaters and coaches over the years) worth it.

(My photos are published here with the kind permission of the Canadian team. They are placed here so that 3rd speaker Veenu's mother, who has been supporting from afar, can enjoy them. Be very proud Priya and thank you!)

Check out www.pen.com.qa for local, front page news which features the Canadian team.

Semi final results!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:49:00 +0000

Wales proposing 0 England opposing 9
Singapore proposing 0 Canada opposing 9

Finalists are Canada and England.

Quarter-final results!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Motion: That compensation should be paid for the injustices committed by past generations.

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION
Wales 4 Australia 3
Canada 6 New Zealand 1
Singapore 6 Slovenia 1
Pakistan 1 England 6

Semi final motion; That the United States should withdraw from the middle east

Wales is to propose against England. They are preparing as I type.
The debate is at the Islamic museum where I am now.

I don't know which of Singapore and Canada is proposing. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

Octofinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Shaheen with Team India, spirited debaters throughout this tournament, breaking for the first time and eager to do even more next time. Wow!

OCTOFINAL RESULTS

Motion: That we should have no laws which restrict free speech.

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION
Australia 5 Hong Kong 0
Canada 4 Ireland 1
Singapore 3 Scotland 2
England 4 India 1
Greece 0 Pakistan 5
Sri Lanka 1 Slovenia 4
New Zealand 5 Netherlands 0
Wales 5 Israel 0

Quarter finals will see Australia v Wales, Canada v New Zealand,
Singapore v Slovenia, Pakistan v England

Breaking news; the breaking teams

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:14:00 +0000

Chris Erskine (co-CA) announces the draw supported by The Team, L to R Simon Quinn (co-CA)and CAP members Taimur Bandey, Effie Giannakouri, Pardip Chopra, Beth James and Eva Spoor.

Here are the breaking teams from 1st to 16th, with number of wins, number of judges and total speaker points.

Congratulations to them all!!!!

1. Australia 8 wins, 23 judges, 6277 total speaker points
2. Canada 8, 22, 6171
3. Singapore 8, 22, 6161
4. Greece 8, 22, 6105
5. England 8, 21, 6188.5
6. Slovenia 7, 19, 6016. 5
7. New Zealand 6, 19, 6189.5
8. Wales 6, 19, 6080.5
9. Israel 6, 18, 6012
10. Netherlands 6, 18, 5961
11. Sri Lanka 6, 17, 6047.5
12. India 6, 16, 5982.5
13. Pakistan 5, 18, 6114.5
14. Scotland 5, 17, 6163
15. Ireland 5, 16, 6093.5
16. Hong Kong 5 16 6074.5

Tomorrow will be the octo finals with 1 facing 16, 2 facing 15 and so on.
In other words,
Australia v Hong Kong
Canada v Ireland
Singapore v Scotland
Greece v Pakistan
England v India
Slovenia v Sri Lanka
New Zealand v Netherlands
Wales v Israel

Spare a thought for the teams also on 5 wins and who came so close, engaging in some fabulous debates during the tournament:

17. Republic of Korea (5, 16, 6072)
18. Bangladesh
19. South Africa
20. Mexico
21. Philippines
22. Indonesia
23. Romania
24. Germany
25. Sweden
26. Estonia

It's getting very interesting in Doha.....

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:59:00 +0000

WSDC 2010 character, the falcon Shaheen, graces the display board in the Mariott reception area. A life-size Shaheen has made various appearances througout the championship.

Many upsets (on paper anyway!!!!), many new teams coming through and making a mark - YAY!

Here are the provisional results and team rankings after round 6. Rounds 7 and 8 results coming soon if I can find time between now and the break night party......

Round zero

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:55:00 +0000

57 is an uneven number so there was a need for Round 0 which was held this evening after a day of shopping and tours.

Here are the results.

Team standings after Round 4 - and some gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:38:00 +0000

Photos; CA Chris Erskine on the adjudicators' briefing day; Adjudicators Christopher Sanchez (Germany), Elisa Frank (Canada), Aaron Maniam (Singapore), Branislav Fecko (from the mighty Slovakian team of 9 judges)

Kia ora tatou.

At the half way stage, we are having two days off, one to acknowledge Friday and enjoy an evening desert safari under the stars and the next to go on various tours, including visiting the Islamic museum, watching camel races or floating on a dhow.

I have to say that for such an intense competition like WSDC, two days on, two days off, two days on before we hit the break rounds seems very sensible. It allows more time for us all to socialise, unwind and get to see a bit of Qatar rather than be cloistered in prep rooms 24/7. So I give many thanks to the organisers here in Qatar for their perspicacity!

The Chief Adjudicators Chris Erskine and Simon Quinn, together with their CAP (Chief Adjudication Panel) Taimur Bandey, Pardip Chopra, Effie Giannakouri, Beth James and Eva Spoor, are doing an outstanding job, dealing not only with a competition which has leapt from 39 teams to 57, but adjudicators who can't add up mark sheets! They are utlising a new tabbing programme which is working well courtesy of Simon Quinn (both for its invention and its maintenance.) A huge amount of appreciation goes to them for their many hours of hard work for the rest of us.

They have released an official tab including tournament rankings half way through the competition. Here it is. As you can see by looking at it, a number of teams are on the same win-loss ratio, which for 7 teams means no losses at all (so far.) Rankings are in those cases determined first by the number of judges who have awarded the debate to the team and then the team's speaker points.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'm certainly enjoying mine.

Day 2 in Doha

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:08:00 +0000

Here you can see the fare to which we are treated on a daily basis.

As for the debating, nothing can ever be taken for granted and there have been a few interesting results. Here then are the results of Day 2 - enjoy.

And remember, your children and grandchildren are safe, well-fed, generously cared for and turning on some fabulous debates!

Debating in Doha - day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:46:00 +0000

Greetings everyone and welcome to the blog from Doha. Here it's winter, so the temperature has plummeted to.....16 degrees! Warm climate, warm hospitality.

We have been thoroughly looked after since we arrived at the luxurious Mariott. We are treated to huge buffets for breakfast and dinner (and well fed at the host schools as well) more than enough to feed the 500. Qatar Debate and QMDI can't do enough for us.

The opening ceremony last night was sensational. I don't have any photos because I had a little bit of work to do at the function but if you have some, do send them to me and I'll publish them so our readers can see what I mean.

However I'm sure this blog's visitors haven't come to be made jealous about Qatar's abundant generosity. You've come for the results of Day 1. Here they are!

Good night

Draw videos online

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:07:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

The draw videos are now online! They are available at http://www.youtube.com/wsdc2010#g/p

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the draw process. In particular, I would like to thank the draw supervisors -- Irene McGrath (Group A, Dundee), Sixto Ramos (Group B, Peru), Jess Price (Group C, Cape Town), Pardip Chopra (Group D, Calgary), Gaurav Keerthi (Group E, Singapore), Taimur Bandey (Group F, Lahore), Effie Giannakouri (Group G, Athens) and Chris Erskine (Group H, Doha) -- as well as Claire Ryan and Dr Hayat Maarafi for their welcome messages. Chris and I have been very happy with the entire draw process, and we are satisfied that all draw participants have followed the requirements of the "draw explanation" document that we circulated last week.

I would also like to thank Joshua Milch for the many hours that he has volunteered for editing and formatting.

We hope that you enjoy the videos!

Simon Quinn
Co-CA, WSDC 2010

The draw is now released

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:25:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

Greetings from Education City, Doha -- where, half an hour ago, the draw for WSDC 2010 was completed. The draw is attached as are the draw labels

As you know, the draw explanation, draw structure and pre-tournament ranking were released last week, expressed in terms of team codes. The selection of teams to match those team codes has been done in eight cities around the world, supervised by some of the most senior members of the WSDC community, and done in such a way that none of the people in those cities yet know any of the other draw results.

The draw video clips are currently being formatted and uploaded to YouTube. We will e-mail as soon as the link is available; given the file sizes, we expect this to be some time in the next 24 hours. The clips are great to watch, and we hope you will enjoy them!

Simon Quinn and Chris Erskine
Chief Adjudicators

Annual General Meeting and related documents

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:01:00 +0000

All,

The WSDC Ltd. charity's AGM will be held in Qatar at 9am on 16 February 2009, prior to the annual Council meeting. In this regard, please find attached the following:

1. The notice of the Charity AGM doc and the notice of the Council meeting including the agendas.
2. The Directors' report for your consideration (including Annexes A, B and C
3. A call for nominees for the position of Director for 2010-2013

Please note that each nation sending a team to Worlds in Qatar is eligible for membership of WSDC Ltd. The Directors will shortly confirm acceptance of those countries which have applied for membership since Athens and are participating in Qatar.

In the event that your country has corporate membership or has applied for corporate membership of WSDC, the governing documents require that you confirm the name of your authorised representative to the AGM in writing prior to the meeting. Please do this by sending an email message to the Director's nominated chair for the charity's AGM in Qatar, Asher Weill at debasher@netvision.net.il

Best,

Andrea Coomber
Chair, Board of Directors
WSDC Ltd.

Proposed rule changes for WSDC

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

Here are the proposals for rule changes for voting at the Council meeting at Doha, Qatar on 18 February 2010.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

South Africa bids for WSDC 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

South Africa is bidding to host WSDC 2012. The bid is the only one received for 2012and will be voted on by the World Schools Debating Council at the Annual General Meeting in Doha.

I have great pleasure in enclosing the bid documents.
1. Intention to bid letter
2. Sponsorship letter
3. The bid document

Members of the South African organising committee will be present at Doha, will be happy to answer any queries and will make a presentation of their bid on the evening of 16 February 2010 before the vote takes place on 18 February 2010.

Kind regards

Claire Ryan
Chairperson
Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

Important information on the dress code for Qatar

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Dear all

Attached is a document outlining the appropriate dress code for the forthcoming World Championships in Qatar. We kindly request that all participants read it carefully and choose their attire for WSDC accordingly.

With thanks

Beth James

On behalf of the WSDC Executive Committee and approved by the organisers of WSDC Qatar 2010.

Blogging and twittering

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:12:00 +0000

I'll be blogging again from WSDC this year and tweeting/twittering as well.

See you on this site or @tautoru

All other bloggers and tweeters feel free to join in.

Prepared motions for WSDC 2010 now released

noreply@blogger.com (Kiwi Claire) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Greetings everyone.

On behalf of Qatar, the host of WSDC 2010, I hereby announce the the motions at WSDC 2010;
(a) for the prepared preliminary debating rounds (4 in total)
(b) for the Grand final.

First, I wish to thank the Motions Committee which has worked very hard in order to bring you the motions earlier than two months prior to the start of the championships.

The Motions Committee members are:
Chris Erskine (chair)
Sherria Ayuandini (Indonesia)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Russell Courts (Greece)
Jim McElroy (Ireland)
Loucia Isaac (Qatar)
Simon Quinn (Qatar)

And now.....the motions.

PRELIMINARY ROUNDS

(forgive the capital letters; the Motions Committee is not trying to shout, but the convention is to write motions in capitals)

THAT WE SHOULD SUPPORT MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SOMALIA

THAT EVERY COUNTRY SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO POSSESS NUCLEAR WEAPONS

THAT DOCTORS SHOULD REPORT EVIDENCE OF MARITAL ABUSE TO THE POLICE

THAT TERRORIST SUSPECTS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL IN CIVILIAN COURTS

GRAND FINAL

THAT GOVERNMENTS SHOULD NEVER BAIL OUT BIG COMPANIES

Until the draw is announced, teams will not know whether they will be proposition or opposition for the 4 prepared preliminary rounds, so they should begin preparing both sides.

The remaining four preliminary rounds will be on motions announced to the teams one hour before the debate begins, as will all the break round debates (the octo finals, quarter finals and semi finals).

REGISTER BY 8 DECEMBER 2009.

Finally, I hope you have already registered for WSDC 2010 and if not, that you do it now. NOW!!! Places are at a premium and I understand that the deadline of 8 December 2009 will need to be enforced.

I understand that the cap is 40 member nations and 10 new nations. However, any extra new nations can fill any places that are not taken up by the 40.
So far an overwhelming number of new nations has registered but an underwhelming number of member nations/returnees.

I hope that people don't leave it too late. It will be sad if a dithering returnee nation leaves it until after 8 December in the fond hope that it won't matter, because it will.

Good luck, please register NOW - and happy preparing.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Chairperson,
Executive Committee,
WSDC ltd