Australia's Monash U wins 32nd World Universities Debating Championship

MANILA, Philippines - Australia’s Monash University won the 32nd World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC or Worlds) held Tuesday night at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

Monash University’s Amit Golder and Kiran Iyer copped the championship after besting the three other student debaters from three universities, namely Stanford University with debaters Fariz Mohiuddin, Oxford University with debaters Jen Coyne and Steph Bell, and the University of Sydney with Daniel Swain and Elle Jones, that made the Worlds’ Final Four earlier in the day.

The debate topic of the 32nd Worlds finals, was “This House supports Nationalism”.

The champion in the 32nd Worlds Open Category was chosen by Worlds Adjudication Core headed by De La Salle University alumna Lucinda Teresa David and Cambridge University alumnus debater Sam Block, and composed of top debaters and judges representing the different regions.

Considered to be the “Olympics of Debating,” the Worlds was hosted by De La Salle University and San Miguel Corp.

Recognizing the need to make debating more accessible to Philippine universities and the general public, the De La Salle University’s La Salle Debate Society embarked on the daunting task of hosting Worlds three years ago, to make the Worlds one of the highlights of De La Salle University’s centennial celebrations.

The team had its bid unanimously ratified by the World Debate Council in Gaborone, Botswana in January 2011.

Over 1,000 debaters from 224 universities from 41 nations have taken part in the nine-day competition, which started Dec. 27 and ended yesterday.

The 32 that made it to the “octo-finals” include teams from the universities of Oxford, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Cambridge, University of Sydney, and University of Monash.

The tournament is in the British Parliamentary format. There are separate categories for Public Speaking, English as a Second Language (ESL), and English as a Foreign Language (for countries whose nationals do not usually use English as a medium of conversation).