Making history for our city, the Hong Kong team has taken home the champion at WSDC 2022, for the first time since the championship’s inception 35 years ago. This year, the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) was held online between 8th to 18th of August, 2022. A total of 66 countries participated, competing live through Zoom in the Eastern and Western divisions divided by time-zones.
In the preliminary rounds, Hong Kong team faced the following teams:
Vietnam
UAE
Indonesia
Malaysia
China
Sri Lanka
Singapore
Bangladesh
Hong Kong won 22 out of 24 possible ballots, with the highest score of both divisions. Breaking first, Hong Kong then went to face Pakistan in the Octo-Finals, Ireland in the Quarter-Finals, Singapore in the Semi-Finals, before facing China in the Grand Finals for the second time in a row.
In the end, Hong Kong brought it home with a 9-0 win. In addition, four speakers ranked in the Top 10, with Madeleine Wu at 2nd place, Dhruv Leekha at 3rd place, Chloe Tse at 4th place and Jenny Kim at 6th place.
The stunning results could not have been achieved without the unparalleled dedication of coach Harish Natarajan, who has been with the Hong Kong team for the past two years. This year’s coaching team also included Jason Xiao and Janko Djordjevic, whose efforts the team could not have done without.
For further information on the Netherlands WSDC 2022, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wsdc2022/
Congratulations once again to the team for their unprecedented achievement, and thanks to all involved for their incredibly hard work over the course of the past academic year!