Pakistani Students Win International Debate in Mexico
By Fareeha Khalid
Three 15-year-old Pakistani students have won the final of The Karl Popper Debating Championship (KPDC), one of the most prestigious high school tournaments in the world, in Mexico.
The Pakistani team beat the team of students from South Korea. All three participants were listed in the top 10 speakers of the tournament.
Zainab Hameed, a Karachi Grammar School student, was named the top speaker of the competition while Azeem Liaquat, student of the Salamat International Campus for Advanced Studies in Lahore, was placed second. Their teammate, Ahmed Shujaan from the Aitchison College Lahore, bagged the fifth position among more than 200 participants.
Teams from 45 countries participated in the tournament, which was part of the 18th International Debate Education Association (IDEA) Youth Forum held in Mexico from July 2 to 15.
The Pakistani team defended the topic “Guantanamo Bay prison should be closed down immediately” in the KPDC finals while the Korean team argued to prove that the motion should not be adopted.
The teams participated in two competitions – the KPDC and the mixed team track. In the former, they represented Pakistan as a team while they were split up and paired with debaters from other countries in the mixed team track.
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