Third Title for Royal College

The Lilian Nixon Challenge Shield, organized annually by the Debating Society of Ladies' College, was held on 25th and 26th October 2014. This year's competition saw the participation of 37 teams, among whose number were newer participants Trinity College, Kandy, and St. John's College, Jaffna. After four preliminary rounds of debate, the following teams broke through to the quarter finals:

1) Royal College (A)
2) S. Thomas' College (A)
3) Stafford International School
4) Visakha Vidyalaya
5) Gateway College (B)
6) Royal College (B)
7) Ananda College (A)
8) Ananda College (B)

The two top-seeded teams met in the Grand Final; S. Thomas' College (A) defeating Ananda College (A) in the quarters and Royal College (B) in the semis, and Royal College (A) defeating Ananda College (B) and Visakha Vidyalaya. The members of the two teams were as follows:

S. Thomas' College (A)

Sandesh Rajanathan
Devin Hewage
Sharuka Wikramanayake


Royal College (A)

Shechem Sumanthiran
Senith Abeyanayake
Sidath Samarasinghe


The motion for the Grand Final was 'This house would not convict beat-up wives for any crimes committed against their husbands, including murder', which S. Thomas' College proposed. Although the debate was very close, and of a standard befitting a final, the seven-member panel of adjudicators were unanimous in their conclusion that the motion fell, giving Royal College yet another tournament win, their third this month.

The award for 'Most Outstanding Speaker' went to Minul Muhandiramge of Ananda College (B).

The final of the Novice Category - which was for teams that had never before taken part in this competition - took place between Royal College (C) and Lyceum International School, Wattala, with Royal College emerging victors.

Our congratulations to all the victors, and especially to the members of the Debating Society of Ladies' College, for yet another efficiently-run championship.

Royal College Makes it Two in a Row

The Elizabeth Moir Debating Championship was held on the 10th and 11th of October 2014 at the Elizabeth Moir Senior School. The tournament saw 24 teams participate, with the top four teams after 2 rounds of debate proceeding to the semi-finals.

In the semi-final rounds, Ananda College (B) defeated Ananda College (A) to seal their spot in the final, while Royal College did the same by defeating Gateway College (A).

Ananda College (B) was represented by

Navindu Palliyaguruge
Tharuka Perera
Minul Muhandiramge

while Royal College comprised

Kanchana Ranasinghe
Sidath Samarasinghe
Arjun Ratwatte

In an almost deja-vu Grand Final, Ananda College proposed the motion 'This house believes that nationalism is a virtue', and after a close fought debate, the panel of adjudicators split 2-1 in favour of Royal College, giving them their second title in as many competitions.

Our congratulations to both teams on making it to the Final of successive competitions, to the winners on their success, and to the organizers for bravely taking on the task of hosting such a competition.

Royal College Crowned Undefeated Champions at 9th Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championship

The Grand Final of the 9th Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championship was held on 4th October 2014, between Ananda College (A) and Royal College (A).

Having won all seven preliminary rounds, Royal College (A) made their way to the final by defeating Royal College (B) in the quarters and S. Thomas' College (A) in the semis, while Ananda College (A)'s journey to the final involved defeating Ananda College (B) in the partial octos, Colombo International School (A) in the quarters, and Ladies' College (B) in the semis.

Ananda College (A) was represented by

Gihan Samarawickrama
Oshada Abhayasundara
Dinusha Pathirana
Binura Gunasekara (R)


while Royal College (A) comprised

Shechem Sumanthiran
Senith Abeyanayake
Sidath Samarasinghe

The motion for the Grand Final was - eventually - 'This house believes that it is justifiable to use violence in the protection of the environment', and was proposed by Ananda College. At the end of the heated exchange, the adjudicators' decision went 6-1 in favour of the opposition, making Royal College (A) the undefeated Champions of the competition, with a winning streak of 10 debates.

Charith Gunasekara of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, and Maya de Silva Wijeyeratne of Ladies' College were joint Best Speakers of the championship.

Our congratulations to the winning team and speakers, and to the organizers for another well run tournament.
                                                                  

Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championship 2014

The preliminary rounds of the 9th Sri Lanka Schools Debating Championship, organized by the Moot Court and Debating Society of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, were completed on the 27th and 28th of September 2014. This year's competition saw the participation of 50 teams, and after 7 tiring rounds of debates, the following teams broke through to the next round:

1) Royal College (A)
2) Colombo International School (A)
3) Ladies' College (A)
4) S. Thomas' College (B)
5) S. Thomas' College (A)
6) Ladies' College (B)
7) Ananda College (A)
8) Royal College (B)
9) Methodist College (A)
10) Ananda College (B)
11) Bishop's College (A)
12) Ladies' College (C)

Royal College (A) emerged the only undefeated team, winning all seven preliminary debates.

The top four teams will go straight through to the quarter finals, while the bottom eight will have to fight for a quarter-final spot in a partial octo-final.

The break rounds and the Grand Final of the championship will be held on Saturday 4th October at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. We wish all the teams the best of luck.

Team Sri Lanka at the World Schools Debating Championship 2014 - Bangkok, Thailand

The World Schools Debating Championship 2014 was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 5th to 15th August 2014. The following students represented Sri Lanka at the tournament:


1) Maya De Silva Wijeyeratne - Ladies' College
2) Eran Fernando - Colombo International School
3) Shechem Sumanthiran - Royal College
4) Daniel Ferdinandusz - St. Joseph's College
5) Sharuka Wikramanayake - S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia


The young team did well to win 3 of the 7 preliminary debates they took part in, and missed out on improving that record due to Team Namibia's absence at the tournament.


The team lost unanimously to former champions Singapore and this year's ESL champions Malaysia, and split judges off Argentina and tournament heavy-weights Ireland in very close debates.


The team maintained Sri Lanka's clean streak against Japan, and also reversed the record by defeating USA unanimously, and Israel by a 2-1 margin.


Eran Fernando was ranked 8th on the 'English as a Second Language' speaker tab, and 48th on the overall speaker tab.


Our congratulations to the team on its individual and collective performances at the competition.