Sri Lanka Schools Team leave for Qatar - Hopes run high

The Sri Lanka Schools Team for 2010 will leave for Doha, Qatar on 8th of February to participate at the 21st edition of the World Schools Debating Championship. The 11 day tournament will consist of 8 first round debates after which the top 16 teams will break into the Octo Finals after which all rounds will be on knockout basis.

The World Schools Debating Championship is an international debating competition for secondary school students. Starting in 1988, the tournament has been held in seventeen different countries around the world, and has been the stage at which the best student debaters in the world exhibited their talents. Past patrons of the tournament include Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair.

The contingent representing Sri Lanka will be as follows

Sandaruwani De Silva (Capt) - Bishop's College
Sanjit Dias - S. Thomas' College
Maleen Jayasuriya - Wesley College
Pranjeevan Kulasingham - S. Thomas' College
Kithmina Hewage - Colombo International School

Coach - Mr. Deshan Pushparajah

Sandaruwani De Silva, the Captain of the team will represent the country for an unprecendented 4th year this time while the remainder of the team are promising freshers.

The team has been training for over 7 months now under many professional debaters and has also had the benefit of expertise from foreign coaches Ms. Jessica Prince and Mr. Alex Campbell.

Sri Lanka will aim to take the momentum of recent years into the tournament and become the surprise champions of the competition.

The country first participated at the tournament in 2005 and has improved in leaps and bounds over the years. The record of past tournaments is as follows.


2005 - Calgary, Canada
(Represented by the Royal College Team of 2005)

Ashan Walpita - Captain
Hafeel Farisz
Feroze Ahamed
Mahela Liyanage
Laknath Gunatilleke

Coach: Mr. Sajith Amendra

Record: 1 Win/ 7 losses/ 4 Adjudicators
Rank : 28th/31
Highest Ranked Sri Lankan speaker : N/A


2006 - Cardiff, Wales
(First National Team approved by the Ministry of Education)

Deshan Pushparajah (Captain) - S. Thomas' College
Romali Tudawe - Colombo International School
Deborah Phillip - Ladies' College
Thilini Perera - Ladies' College
Sachintha Dias - St. Joseph's College

Coach: Mr. Sajith Amendra

Record: 2 Wins/ 6 losses/ 8 Adjudicators
Rank: 27th/36
Highest Ranked Sri Lankan speaker - Deshan Pushparajah


2007 - Seoul, South Korea
(First team selected by the Debaters' Council - Approved by the Ministry of Education)

Sachintha Dias (Captain) - St. Joseph's College
Prawira Saldin - S. Thomas' College
Zahrah Cader - Asian International School
Themal Ellawela - Royal College
Sandaruwani De Silva - Bishop's College

Coaches: Mr. Sajith Amendra, Mr. Gehan Gunatilleke, Mr. Nishantha De Silva

Record: 3 Wins/ 5 losses
Rank: 24th/35
Highest Ranked Sri Lankan Speaker - Sachintha Dias


2008 - Washington DC, USA

David Rajasingham (Captain) - S. Thomas' College
Prawira Saldin - S. Thomas' College
Sandaruwani De Silva - Bishop's College
Tharindra Gunarathne - Ananda College

Coach: Mr. Deshan Pushparajah

Record: 4 Wins/ 4 losses/ 12 Adjudicators
Rank: 18th/39
Highest Ranked Sri Lankan Speaker - Prawira Saldin (50th in Global Speaker Ranking)


2009 - Athens, Greece

Prawira Saldin (Captain) - S. Thomas' College
Sandaruwani De Silva - Bishop's College
Themal Ellawela - Royal College
David Rajasingham - S. Thomas' College
Vinura Ladduwahetty - S. Thomas'College

Coaches - Mr. Sachintha Dias

Record: 4 Wins/ 4 losses/ 14 Adjudicators
Rank: 17th/39
Highest Ranked Sri Lankan Speaker - David Rajasingham (53rd in Global Speaker Ranking)


We wish Sandaruwani and her team all the best at the Championships.