Tuesday, September 28, 2010

DC Schools League - Points Table - Tables turn as CIS take the lead


47 of the 56 first round debates of the DC Schools League 2010 have been completed as we enter into the last month of competition and the above are the standings as at today.

Teams already relegated

Based on current standings and theoretical possibilities, St. Joseph's College, Methodist College, D. S Senanayake College and Bishop's College have already taken the 4 slots to be relegated back into the pool from which next year's 4 new contestants will be chosen from. However standings within these four could change based on the results from next month's debates

Ladies' College face up hill task to enter final

With their surprise loss to D. S Senanayake College last week, Asians' Semifinalists Ladies' College will now face an up hill task if they are to enter the finals. With only one debate left (compared to 3 or more for S. Thomas' College and Wesley College), they will be keen to win it convincingly, before they allow fate and the numbers' game to set in.

Three way competition for entry into finals, CIS seem favorites

With 5 teams seemingly out of the reckoning, the competition has now closed down on 3 teams battling it out to qualify for the finals. Colombo International School, with 9 wins out of 11 seem favorites to cross the finish line first. However the most interesting competition could prove to be between Wesley College and S. Thomas' College with the 2 debates scheduled on October 23rd (the final day of debates) between the 2 teams becoming a potential semi final.

The remaining 9 debates in the league promise to be exciting times for the competition

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Law Faculty bags another regional scalp

The RV Debating tournament (RVDT) was held from the 18th -21st September 2010 at RV College of Engineering, Bangalore. 46 teams from around India and other parts of South Asia took part in the event (now in its 2nd year). The difference between RVDT and many other debating tournaments is that it allowed for mixed teams (teams mixed between institutions) and independents to participate as debaters. The achievements of the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo at this tournament are as follows.

1. FOLC-A team (which included David Rajasingham, Luwie Ganeshathasan and Shamalie Jayatunge) emerged the winner of the competition. The team had 4 out of 6 wins in the preliminary rounds. Their only two losses came against Nanda Cross (whom they met in the finals). They beat IIT Bombay A in the quarter finals (on a 2-1 split), National Law school of India University B at the semi-finals (5-0). In the Finals they beat Nanda Cross which included Sharmila Parmanand (see below for Sharmila’s debating CV) Vipul Nanda (see below for Vipul’s debating CV) and Harini Vishwanathan who were last year’s defending champions, on 6-1 split.

2. FOLC- B team (which included Shanil Wijesinha, Vishakha Wijenayake and Rhadeena de Alwis) was unlucky not to break to the top 8 and finished on 3 wins. Despite some bad adjudication in a couple of rounds (where even the opposition admitted they had lost) the team was ranked 3rd on the tab on Speaker scores (Behind Nanda cross (1) and FOLC –A (2)).

3. All 6 speakers (from the two teams) were ranked in the top 25 in the speaker tab this included Luwie Ganeshathasan (4th), Shamalie Jayatunge (5th), Shanil Wijesinha (8th), David Rajasingham (9th), Rhadeena de Alwis (11th), Vishakha Wijenayake (22nd).

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Ladies' College and Wesley College make the nation proud

Ladies' College and Wesley College, participated at the Second Asian Schools Debating Championship 2010 held in Manila. After seven rounds of heated debates on a wide variety of themes Both A and B teams of Ladies' College and Wesley College advanced to the octo finals as the top 12th,5th and 4th teams in the preliminary rounds.A team of Ladies' College advanced to the quarter finals after beating the Ladies' College B team in what was termed a 'cannibalistic' round. Ladies College A team advanced to the semi finals and lost the semi finals in a close 4-3 split decision.The Ladies' College C team narrowly missed the main break and advanced to the Novice Championship out of which they emerged winners. Shamalie Jayatunge the coach of Ladies' College was ranked as the 8th best adjudicator of the tournament from the breaking adjudicators. Manisha Dissanayake was ranked second best speaker of the tournament and Kalyaani Vickneswaran was ranked as 8th best speaker in the speaker tabs.

The respective Ladies' College teams were as following. the A team comprised of Meghal Perera,Naomi Wijetunge and Enakshi Wickramanayake. The B team comprised of Kalyaani Vickneswaran,Manisha Dissanayake and Radeeni Algama. The C team comprised of Anisha Dias Bandaranaike,Radhika Sundararaj and Sunela Pathirana.

The Wesley College team which broke 4th in with 6-1 win ratio to the main break lost the quarterfinals in a controversial split decision. The teams representing Wesley College consisted of Maleen Jayasuriya,Chrisjit Xavier and Sithira Gunasekara.
All in all the competition was both enjoyable and an eye opener it is hoped that more teams will participate in next years edition in South Korea.

Wesley in triple wins

Wesley College vs St. Joseph's College

Motion: That proportional representation should be the basis for electoral systems
Venue: Wesley College
Debate type: Prepared
Result: WC bt SJC (3:0)

Wesley College vs D. S Senanayake College

Motion: THBT state sponsored stockpiling or destruction of agricultural surplus should be a crime against humanity
Venue: Wesley College
Debate type: Prepared
Result: WC bt DSS (3:0)

D. S Senanayake College awarded a walkover to Wesley College for the impromptu debate scheduled on the same date

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Wesley down Joes convincingly

Wesley College downed St. Joseph's College convincingly at an Impromptu debate held at the latter venue on Saturday. The debate was awarded unanimously to Wesley College but was held to be a good one.

The motion for debate was "THBT tax defaulters should be disenfranchised"