Feature
Ridwan Karim
 The clouds parted and the snowy peaks of the Grouse Mountains in Vancouver became visible, as we looked out of the windows of our plane with eager anticipation. Perhaps it was inevitable that the new and exciting journey that the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Debating Club (IBADC) had embarked upon in the year 2006 would eventually take them to Vancouver, Canada the setting for the World Debating Championship 2006-07, hosted by the University of British Columbia, Canada.
The year 2006 was an eventful one for IBADC, having already organized the National English Debate Competition in a grand scale, IBADC decided to round off the year in style by sending three teams and an adjudicator to the prestigious worlds debating championship the competition that every debater dreams of participating in. Mr. Syed Munir Khasru, Faculty of IBA and Moderator of IBADC, led the Team from IBA. Representing IBA - A were Ridwan Karim and Md. Golam Kibria, representing IBA- B were Shakil Rahman and Anahita Ahmed and representing IBA - C were Muhammad Risalat Siddique and Tanvira Chowdhury. There were two other teams from Bangladesh one from North South University and the other from Dhaka University.
After a month of preparation, we finally boarded the plane that would take us to Vancouver for the tournament spanning from December 28, 2006 to January 3, 2007. Grameen Phone was the official sponsor of Team IBA. Upon landing in Canada, we were taken to the Hotel Sheraton Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver, our accommodation for the next seven days. The first day of the seven-day debate competition was devoted to the World Debate Council meetings and social programs where debaters from 63 countries got to know each other. This was the biggest Worlds ever to be organized, with over 330 participating teams.
December 29, 2006 was the day when the Worlds really exploded into life. We had to board a bus at 7 AM in the morning that took us to the campus of University of British Columbia (UBC). It was still pitch dark outside, and as we rolled over the highways of Vancouver, we knew we had a huge day coming in front of us and our expectations were not disappointed. We savored each and every moment of that day starting from the meals in the gigantic UBC cafeteria to the nerve-wracking debates, the huge gatherings in the Students Union Building (SUB) to the frantic pace with which we had to find the venues of our debate while preparing our speeches at the same time. The sheer breakneck speed with which the entire competition progressed left us with little time to catch our breath. We had to participate in nine rounds of debate within December 29-31.
We knew that we would be pitted against the very best of debaters, debaters who were accustomed to blowing their opponents into smithereens in the battle of words.
There were debaters from all the renowned universities around the globe like Cambridge, Oxford, Sydney, Harvard etc. The fact that we had to prepare for seven minute speeches within 15 minutes after the topic was shown in the giant screen in the SUB building, while at the same time having to cover great distances over the enormous UBC campus to reach the room where we would be debating in made matters more challenging than ever. There were times when we were at an utter loss for words when topics like 'This house supports accelerated land redistribution in South Africa' came up, and we had to resort to extensive improvising. Then again, we did have our moments when familiar topics such as 'This house would abolish the military regime in Myanmar' came up. Over the nine rounds, we had to face teams from UK, USA, South Africa, West Indies, Latvia, Russia, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Croatia and many more. It was fantastic to have competed with debaters of such varied backgrounds converging upon one stage.
The social programs organized by UBC added color to the proceedings, though some of the veteran debaters opined that the efforts still left a lot to be desired. Concerts, dances, basketball games were the main programs on offer. Assumption University of Thailand, the organizers of the next worlds, also put up a Thai night which was enjoyed by all of us.
The Break Night was organized on New Year's Eve, where the names of the 32 teams advancing to the next round were announced after the New Year's party in the Grand Ball Room in Hotel Sheraton. The only Asian team to qualify for the next round was the team from NUS, Singapore. After four more exciting rounds of debate filled with stunning arguments and counter arguments, Sydney G emerged the champions of Worlds Debate Championship 2006-07.
Advancing through to the round of 32 is a difficult proposition for Asian teams, because much of the norms guiding the World Debate Championship have been shaped by the Western countries. IBA had much to cheer for being the best performing team of Bangladesh. Kibria from IBA - A made it through to the semi-finals of the public speaking round, with only 15 more debaters from the world managing a similar feat. Here are the tabulated results of teams from Bangladesh.
IBA is currently ahead of all other Bangladeshi teams in the world ranking based on their performance over the previous five years. World Debate Championship is the showcase of the finest quality of debating that countries across the globe have to offer. The spirit and vigor with which every team took part in the debates were fantastic. Even teams who could hardly understand English were extremely enthusiastic about the entire proceedings. It truly was an honor and privilege to rub shoulders with debaters of the highest caliber. Buoyed by our performance this year, we are determined to take our performance to the next level in the future World Debate Championships.
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