KDU College Made an Impact at the Worlds Universities Debating Championships 2009/2010

By: Don Siron Pereira, President of KDU Debate Association (KDUDA)

KDU College is relatively new in the debate scene in comparison to other varsities in Malaysia. However, it has achieved leaps in its first year alone; this was evident in Turkey where the Worlds Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) was held.

In Turkey with Mahherajjan Narayanan, Julius Yee Sher Xern and other new friends.

Julius Yee Sher Xern, Mahherrajan Narayanan and I created the first footprints for KDU in the arena of international debating. The tournament was hosted by Koc University but the venue was in Antalya. The venue that accommodated about 400 teams was the Maritim Pine Beach Resort and it was soon the talk of all the participants. Its luxurious rooms provided an avenue for participants to have a good time at the beach if they wanted to, kick back and relax at one of their three bars or even hit the gym in their spare time.

The tournament saw about 400 teams which translated to about 1700 people. The University of Sydney eventually won the tournament with the London School of Economics, Oxford and Cambridge also in the finals. KDU College, being its first year, managed to garner 13 points after 9 preliminary rounds. The amount of points needed for the quarter finals was 14 points. Although not being able to make it to the quarters, team KDU managed to beat some prominent teams along the way.

As the preliminary rounds progressed, it became evident that our team was given high scores as we continuously met good teams, even in the face of a previous loss. Team KDU managed to be victorious over prominent Universities such as Princeton (USA), Northwestern (USA), Calgary (Canada), Zagreb Law (Croatia), St Johns (USA) and many Asian teams such as Iraq National Debate Team (Iraq), Bina Nusantara (INA) and many others.

Many adjudicators noted that KDU College was indeed a force that is growing. KDU College printed its name in the minds of many big names, making them continuously eager of our results after each round. Being a new team in the tournament, we also made many new friends from around the world thus making KDU known around the world as well. Sustaining this good reputation would mean continuously participating and making KDU proud.

Experience was something that we intended to find and achieve. Indeed, that was what we garnered. The organisation of the tournament, albeit having 400 teams, was immaculate. The rounds started on time, the socials were magnificently beautiful and the food, scrumptious. Post-WUDC the three participants have returned to KDU College to share and teach the members of KDUDA. Continuous training sessions organised almost two to three times a week have only one goal in mind - to win more tournaments this year and to make KDU even more known and feared when speaking about debate.