WSDC – Summary of Past Results

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL COMPILATION

In the past, the draw for the annual WSDC tournament have been based in part on the past sucess of countries. Countries are ranked and then paired against opponents with the intention that all teams face a similarly difficult set of nations.So I have used the same method that calculated WSDC 2011′s pre-tournament rankings to examine the records of countries over the three WSDC 2009-2011.

Previous publications of similar lists have caused some problems, but as I will not be attending WSDC 2012 in Cape Town and will no longer be eligible for WSDC 2013 in Turkey, I believe there is no conflict of interest. I am personally responsible for any errors and apologise in advanced. This list is not official and not 100% accurate, it is intended merely as a guide.

Using the Results for a country that has attended only one or even two WSDC tournaments reduces the accuracy of this summary. Nevertheless, I think the statistics give a good sense of where teams are placed. To make calculations easier, I averaged the results to assume each national team debated at all three WSDCs between 2009 and 2011.

The summary of how National Teams have fared based on WSDC 2009 – 2011 are displayed in the following format – Country, Total wins out of 24, Total judges out of 72

WSDC – Personnel Changes

There have been a number of personnel developments amongst the World Schools Debating Championship community recently. Summarily, they are:

• Andrea Coomber (Chair of the WSDC Board of Directors 2008-2009, 2010-2011) resigned for personal reasons
• James Probart was elected to be Chair of the WSDC Board of Directors and resigned as chair of the WSDC Development Committee
• Trevor Sather joins the Board of Directors and takes up the post as chair of the WSDC Development Committee
• Claire Ryan has been appointed as a District Court Judge in Auckland, New Zealand. As a result, she has resigned from the WSDC Executive
• Beth James will act as Chair of the WSDC Executive until a new Chairperson is elected

Details below:

Year in Review

NOTE: While writing this post, an interesting observation came to mind. The many highlights of my year, as recognized in this post, also popped up on a regular basis in the annual list of ‘Top Post of the Year‘.

The start of this decade, the year 2010 can most accurately called a year of transition. It may have lasted only for 12 months, but it sure fells like I’ve done a heck of a lot of stuff in that time.

By the start of the year, preparations were in full swing for WSDC 2010 in Doha, Qatar. We had long hours of preparation, debates and meetings, often going from 5pm to 10pm in our little SIS hide-out. But we nevertheless felt quite prepared as we set off for Doha in Feb 2010. WSDC itself was a joy and an honor as can be gathered from my WSDC Reflection. We didn’t get to the quarters, but lost gallantly to Australia in the Octo-finals and everyone on the team ranked in the top 50 speakers. Coming in 45th in such a competitive and tough year was delightful. Many thanks to Annette, Ben, Heather, Prakash and Greg who taught me so much.
10 months later in Dec 2010, I transitioned from Team Hong Kong to Team Wales and once again, I’ll hopefully be blogging all the way to WSDC 2011 in Dundee, Scotland.

Domestically, I was able to graciously bow out of HK Debating with sweet victory in the Grand Final of the 25th Sing Tao Inter-School Debating Competition after loosing out in 2008-2009. We also saw the beginning of the Hong Kong Schools Debating Council in April 2010 with the website http://hksdc.wordpress.com still going strong after overtaking PaulLau.com in about half the time.

The Hong Kong Schools Debating Council launched at http://hksdc.wordpress.com/. Register at http://bit.ly/azLiq6—
Paul Lau (@paullaucm) April 20, 2010

It was just before the Sing Tao finals that I received an unassuming phone call notifying me that I had been accepted to UWC Atlantic College in the UK, sparking the biggest transition of this year, and certainly of my life so far.

Despite this, I still had my remaining IGCSE exams to finish, themselves stretching from late April to late May. I had to wait all summer for the results to come out. When they did, they didn’t really come as a surprise with a string of poor runs together with the odd gem. It was a tough pill to swallow, but by then I’d had the IB to worry about.

My home away from home - Morgannwg

That was because I was many miles away in South Wales, starting at Atlantic College. By all counts, it hadn’t been an easy transition. I’d been studying at South Island School for a full five years now and the things that the time has build are things not easily replaced. My last moment with the class of 2012 was a Dinner Dance 2010. It not only marked an end, but featured a first, the first time I participated in a ‘dance’, if you can call it that.

When one door closes, another opens. And so in late August, I transitioned many miles, from HK to the UK to begin my studies at UWC AC

Goodbye Hong Kong. 10 years is a long time, but I enjoyed every moment of it! I'll be back in December. See you all then!—
Paul Lau (@paullaucm) August 20, 2010

2011 will see fewer changes and a whole lot more of building upon existing structures. Hopefully though, it will be just a colorful as 2010.

Top Posts of the Year

We’ve just turned a corner and now are in 2011. PaulLau.com is now 16 months old and still going strong with over 23,000 views and over 180 posts. 2010 was my first full year of blogging and featured all the expected ups and downs. Here’s a round up of the top posts of 2010.

Notably in 2010 was the WSDC 2010 series covering the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships in Doha, Qatar which featured 29 posts and stole 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 9th spot in this Top Posts of the Year list. Whether a result of reader interest or just because it was the most common topic on my blog, debating related posts took 7 out of the top 10 and 15 out of the top 20 posts of 2010.

1. 2010 World Cup Broadcasting [1ST ALL TIME]

This post came out in March, when the issue was gaining considerable media attention. Interestingly enough, come May, the issue was the topic of the Sing Tao Grand Final (see the 10th Top Post). The issue may have been resolved for now, but it won’t be until 2014 before we know if the stations have truly resolved similar disputes.

2. WSDC – Final Rankings [3RD ALL TIME]

Part of the WSDC 2010 series, this post was the culmination of more than a weeks of debating. It brings together the team and individual results of the 2010 WSDC and by-in-large drew to a close WSDC 2010 for PaulLau.com

3. The Story Behind Football Shirt Swapping [4TH ALL TIME]

During my IGCSE Media Studies revision, I stumbled upon a New York Times Article that detailed the story behind the tradition of Shirt Swapping in Football.

4. WSDC – Results [5TH ALL TIME]

Part of the WSDC 2010 series, this post had the immediate results following the Closing Ceremony. It helped provide instant information before the WSDC – Final Rankings post (see the 2nd Top Post) replaced it.

5. UWC Principal Personnel Changes [6TH ALL TIME]

Shortly after Neil Richard’s ‘resignation’ was announced, there was a lot of furor within UWCs around the world about Principal resignations, changes and departures. As a result, I summarized the 3 principal changes at LPC, AC and MI.

6. WSDC – Break [7TH ALL TIME]

Part of the WSDC 2010 series, it took a while for me to calm down after learning that HK would break into the Octo-finals. But once I did, I was able to posts the full break, frantically copied down during a few tense minutes at the WSDC 2010 Break Night Party.

7. WSDC – Round 1-4 Team Results [8TH ALL TIME]

Part of the WSDC 2010 series, the results after round 1, 2, 3 and 4 representing the mid-way mark at WSDC 2010.

8. WSDC – Final Draw [9TH ALL TIME]

Part of the WSDC 2010 series, this is one of the few top posts related to the run-up to WSDC 2010. Indeed, many readers were first notified of their countries draw through this post.

9. Hong Kong Schools Debating Council [10TH ALL TIME]

After many frantic hours of work, messaging and coding on wordpress, me and Heather finally managed to cobble together the HKSDC website at http://hksdc.wordpress.com. The website and the organization, the Hong Kong Schools Debating Council was successfully launched in April.

10. Sing Tao Grand Finals 2010

This Grand Final was not only my last Sing Tao debate, it was also my last debate in Hong Kong and for South Island School. It capped a wonderful journey that really began at the Sing Tao Grand Final in 2006 and ended on the 4th May. Thank you to everyone that I’ve had the joy of sharing the journey with.

Honorary Mentions

11. Tabbing Software
12. HK Bid for 2023 Asian Games
13. WIDPSC Day 1 & 2
14. 10 Things to do if you Finish Exams Early
15. WIDPSC 2010 – Lithuania
16. WSDC – Quarter & Semi-Final
17. WSDC – Round 3 & 4
18. WSDC – Aus vs HK Octofinal
19. WIDPSC 2010 – Results
20. Chinese Sport School System

Debate Diary

February was a rather eventful debating month, if only I say so because WSDC was held. You can read my full WSDC Review or check out all the related blog posts categorised in WSDC 2010.

I have also uploaded my WSDC photos to facebook which you can access, without logging in.
WSDC – Part 1 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=394090&id=710265216&l=0b54aed3a3
WSDC – Part 2 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=394105&id=710265216&l=74f5662dd2
WSDC – Part 3 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=394107&id=710265216&l=16700d01dd
WSDC – Part 4 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=394108&id=710265216&l=ae7eea11e2

In addition to WSDC, both the local competition held matches with the 3rd prelim of the Sing Tao and the Grand Final of the Bar Association Debating Competition.

The 16 debates of the 3rd preliminary round were held on the 27th Feb 2010. South Island School progressed with a well deserved victory over Island School, landing itself a Quarterfinal spot. DGS, DBS, La Salle and St. Paul’s College all won their respective matches, making it into the Quarterfinals. The Quarterfinals will coincidentally be held on the 27th March 2010.

In the Bar Association Debating Competition, the DGS vs. SIS Grand Final was also held on the 27th at Hong Kong University. The lively debate engaged on the relative benefits and problems of double jeopardy and whether a second trial should be permitted. Ultimately, despite the close debate, DGS won 3-0 with summarizes Jody Luk (DGS) awarded Best Speaker.

With regards to the other international competition the WIDPSC 2010, the Hong Kong trials took place a few days before WSDC at South Island School. The Hong Kong World Individuals Debating and Public Speaking Championship team that is bound for Lithuania is :

Benjamin So

Tiffany Chung

Griffith Cheng

Geoffrey Liew

Sachin Sirvastava

Heather Pickerell

WIDPSC Representatives for Hong Kong 2010

WSDC 2010: Reflection

This is part of the WSDC 2010 series as I recount and report on the World School Debating Championship 2010 from Doha, Qatar as a debater, blogger and Hong Kong national team member.

It has been a while since WSDC 2010 ended. I’ve finally got round to putting pen to paper when considering what this competition has been, so here it is.

It’s hard to put into words exactly how the 22nd World Schools Debating Championship in Doha, Qatar truly was. It was lavish and comfortable, tiring and exhilarating, and it was a wonderful learning experience as well as a brilliant social event.

The organisers set out to host the biggest and the best WSDC ever, I’m very doubtful if anyone says otherwise after those two weeks between the 8th and 18th of February 2010. Flushed with funding and more than enough resources, QatarDebate had additional adjudicators sponsored, top notch facilities and well thought-out plans laid out well before we even landed at the tiny Doha International Airport. From that point on, we always had someone there to help us, to set up and organiser for us and to make the event what it was. The Marriott Hotel, with its quite location, private beach and food tent covering two full tennis courts complete with chandeliers, was never going to be easy to beat. Although the rooms were found wanting in some respects, it was in now way below par or problematic for anyone living there.

The Last Good Meal

The lunch we had the day we arrived was jokingly titled ‘the last good meal’. How wrong we were. We discovered that the buffet which we thought was our last would merge into only the first in a whole two weeks worth of buffets. As much as we’d like to complain, it was delicious, varied and filled with Prakash’s favorite green leaves.

WSDC 2010 – Videos

This is part of the WSDC 2010 series as I recount and report on the World School Debating Championship 2010 from Doha, Qatar as a debater, blogger and Hong Kong national team member.

WSDC 2010 Doha may have concluded, but it’s time to review some of the highlights.

First, here is a finalized list of all the Awards handed out, after the organizers finally filled in the ‘Results‘ page of http://www.wsdc2010doha.com/.

Videos

In addition, videos of the event are starting to pop up, I will continue to post them here as they appear.
You can see two full debates that people have uploaded. The first is round 6 between Canada and England (http://www.youtube.com/user/debaterandskeptic#p/u). The second is round 8 between Nepal and Mongolia (http://www.youtube.com/user/hobbyscience#p/u)

Opening Ceremony

School Performances
School Performances

WSDC 2010 – Final Rankings

WSDC 2010 Logo

This is part of the WSDC 2010 series as I recount and report on the World School Debating Championship 2010 from Doha, Qatar as a debater, blogger and Hong Kong national team member.

Following the conclusion of World Schools Debating Championship 2010, the numbers are in, the results crunched and the final rankings decided. Here they are courtesy of the organizers at WSDC Charity.

Motions

R1: That we should support Military Intervention in Somalia
R2: That we should make physical education compulsory in schools
R3: That every Country should have the right to possess Nuclear Weapons
R4: That we should support quotas for women in high government positions
R5: That Doctors should report evidence of Martial Abuse to the police
R6: That developing nations should have the right to give priority to development ahead of the environment
R7: That Terrorist suspects should have the right to a Trial in Civilian courts
R8: That we should legalise performance enhancing drugs
OF: That we should have no law restricting freedom of speech
QF: That compensation should be paid for the injustices committed by past generations
SF: That the United States should withdraw from the Middle East
GF : That Governments should Never Bail out Big Companies

Teams

You can find the results for each individual round here.
See how the 16 teams progressed during the Knockout Stages.

Overall Team Rankings

1. Canada
2. England
3. Singapore
4. Wales
5. Australia
6. Slovenia
7. New Zealand
8. Pakistan
9. Greece
10. Israel
11. Netherlands
12. Sri Lanka
13. India
14. Scotland
15. Ireland
16. Hong Kong

Best New Country : United Arab Emirates
China (2nd) and Sudan (3rd)

Best English as Foreign Language Country : Netherlands
Romania (2nd) and Germany (3rd)

Best English as Second Language Country : Slovenia
Greece (2nd) and Sri Lanka (3rd)

The Break

1. Australia, 8 wins, 23 judges, 6277 points
2. Canada, 8 wins, 22 judges, 6171 points
3. Singapore, 8 wins, 22 judges, 6161 points
4. Greece, 8 wins, 22 judges, 6105 points
5. England, 8 wins, 21 judges, 6188.5 points
6. Slovenia, 7 wins, 19 judges, 6016.5 points
7. New Zealand, 6 wins, 19 judges, 6189.5 points
8. Wales, 6 wins, 19 judges, 6080.5 points
9. Israel, 6 wins, 18 judges, 6012 points
10. Netherland, 6 wins, 18 judges, 5961 points
11. Sir Lanka, 6 wins, 17 judges, 6047.5 points
12. India, 6 wins, 16 judges, 5982.5 points
13. Pakistan, 5 wins, 18 judges 6114.5 points
14. Scotland, 5 wins, 17 judges, 6163 points
15. Ireland, 5 wins, 16 judges, 6093.5 points

Hong Kong, 5 wins, 16 judges, 6074.5 points

16. South Korea, 5 wins, 16 judges, 6072 points
17. Bangladesh, 5 wins, 16 judges, 6022.5 points
18. South Africa, 5 wins, 15 judges, 6107.5 points
19. Mexico, 5 wins, 15 judges, 6023 points
20. Philippines, 5 wins, 15 judges, 6001.5 points
21. Indonesia, 5 wins, 15 judges, 5955.5 points
22. Romania, 5 wins, 14 judges, 5970 points
23. Germany, 5 wins, 13 judges, 5970 points
24. Sweden, 5 wins, 13 judges, 5821.0 points
25. Estonia, 5 wins, 12 judges, 5952.0 points

Shaheen

Speakers

Overall Best Speakers
The full top 100 speakers list can be found here.

1. Joanna Connolly – Australia – 75.333
2. Laura Birchall – Australia – 75.033
3. Charlotte Thomas – Australia – 74.875
4. Eleanor Gordon-Smith – Australia – 74.833
5. Manasvin Goswami – Canada – 74.292
6. Gregory Farquhar – England – 74.222
7. Shehryar Sheikh – Pakistan – 74.083
8. Maria English – New Zealand – 74.000
9. Georgina Barker – Scotland – 73.944
10. Hasan Dindjer – England – 73.917
11. Aria Newfield – New Zealand – 73.867
12. Ashish Kumar – Singapore – 73.813
13. Keenan Macneal – Canada – 73.800
14. Jonathan Carson – Canada – 73.792
15. Ella Katharine Robertson – Scotland – 73.694
16. Edward Schweitzer – England – 73.694
17. Rebecca Meredith – Scotland – 73.667
18. Jasmin Moran – New Zealand – 73.625
19. Teoh Ren Jie – Singapore – 73.605
20. Filippos Lekkas – Greece – 73.583

Hong Kong Individual Results (as stated in the top 100)

39 – Heather Pickerell – 4 – 72.583
40 – Ben Allen – 5 – 72.467
45 – Paul Lau – 4 – 72.333
50 – Annette Chau – 4 – 72.250
60 – Prakash Sanker – 7 – 72.048

Individual EFL Best Speakers :

1. Lionie Beyrle – Germany
2. Zan Zveplan – Slovenia
3. Sanjit Dias – Sri Lanka
4. Elisabeth Van Lieshout – The Netherlands
5. Inka Mobinger – Germany

Individual ESL Best Speakers

1. Shehryar Sheikh – Pakistan
2. Filippos Lekkas – Greece
3. Muhammad Gulzar – Pakistan
4. Do Kwon – South Korea
5. Jeewon Yoo – South Korea

Individual New Nation Best Speakers

1. Andirudh Sivaram – UAE
2. Raeesa Munshi – UAE
3. Sara Smylie – UAE
4. Calvin Cox – Sudan
5. Jiali Li – China

WSDC 2010 – Results

This is part of the WSDC 2010 series as I recount and report on the World School Debating Championship 2010 from Doha, Qatar as a debater, blogger and Hong Kong national team member.

Here are the overall results  from the prize presentation ceremony at La Caliga Hotel in Doha. All errors are mine until organizers confirm details.

Best New Country : United Arab Emirates
Best English as Foreign Language Country : Netherlands
Best English as Second Language Country : Slovenia
Overall 4th : Wales
Overall 3rd : Singapore
Overall Runner-up : England
Overall Champion : Canada

Individual EFL Best Speakers :

1. Lionie Beyrle – Germany
2. Zan Zveplan – Slovenia
3. Daluwatumullagamage Jayasuriya – Sir Lanka
4. Sandarruwani De Silva – Sir Lanka
5. Inka Mobinger – Germany

Individual ESL Best Speakers

1. Shehryar Sheikh – Pakistan
2. Filippos Lekkas – Greece
3. Muhammad Gulzar – Pakistan
4. Do Kwon – South Korea
5. Jeewon Yoo – South Korea

Overall Best Speakers

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

WSDC 2010 – AUS vs. HK Octofinal

This is part of the WSDC 2010 series as I recount and report on the World School Debating Championship 2010 from Doha, Qatar as a debater, blogger and Hong Kong national team member.

After breaking into the Octofinals ranked 16th, our path crossed with that of top breaker Australia. In what turned out to be a close, difficult and tense debate on the motion That there should be no law restricting freedom of speech, Australia emerged victorious by a unanimous decision of 5-0. However, as both sides admitted whilst waiting, the debate that was supposedly one-sided and easy debate on paper for Australia turned out to be quite a battle. At the end of the day, we gave Australia a run for their money, although we ultimately lost, the debate was one of our best performances ever and certainly a high-quality final bow.
Whilst not directly reflected in the result, the following article from the Qatar Tribune accurately captures the nature of the debate. I’ve highlighted my favorite elements, albeit from a biased stand-point of a Hong Kong debater.

Favourites Australia scored a

not-so-convincing win

over lowly placed Hong Kong in the octo-finals, to move into the quarter-finals of the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC). The final eight teams who are in the final round are Australia, Canada, Singapore, England, New Zealand, Wales, Pakistan and Slovenia.
In the first phase of the knockout stage, all 16 teams debated the motion ‘There should be no law restricting freedom of speech’. The octo-finals took place at four venues in four different universities.
In a competition held at Weill Cornell Medical College, Team Australia took on Hong Kong and had a vigorous round of debating.
With Team Australia going for the motion and Team Hong Kong in opposition, it was a contest worth listening. Both teams failed to convince the audience on many key issues. But the all-girl Australian team came up trumps primarily due to its vast experience and flair.

Team Hong Kong gave quite a tough time to the Australians and were almost on the verge staging a big upset in the tournament.

But Team Australia, guided by the eloquent wrap-up by Janna Connolly, safely saw the argument wrested from Team Hong Kong. Team Australia with great presentations from Laura Birchall, Joanna Connolly and Eleanor Gordon Smith finally saw the competition going their way. However,

Team Hong Kong should be proud of their effort and of the fact of having taken the contest right down to the wire.

Claire Rayan, the chief adjudicator of the competition, while announcing the results, commended the efforts of both the teams and said that it was very close. She said “Probably both the teams should have a better understanding of the topics in terms of its applications as both restricted themselves on some part of the motion. This made both the teams miss on many of the key arguments.” It was a team of five judges that adjudicated on the competition. The quarter-finals as well as the semifinals will be held on Wednesday and the grand finale will be held on Thursday.

Grand Final tonight between Canada (proposing) and England (opposing) on the motion That governments should never bail out big companies. Will be posting all results from the closing ceremony as soon as I get back.