I must say, debating three rounds in one day is very tiring!!! We had to go through four prelim rounds, before the Grand Dinner, where the announcements of the teams that manage to break to the quarter finals are released. My team won two rounds and lost two rounds, and we had already expected not to break into the quarters. We had not such high expectations, you see..cos we are still newbies and are there to do our best, and to gain as much experience as we can.
So imagine our surprise when the organisers announced that we had managed to break into the quarters! I was so shocked, I couldn't even smile or show any other reaction at all. I honestly thought that my team would no break at all. The rest of the night flew by in a blur...
The next day, it was the quarter rounds, followed by the semi finals, followed by the finals that night.
When the motion for the quarter finals were released, and we were preparing for it, I was a little apprehensive about whether or not we would be able to get through it. We were the government, and the motion was: This House Would Make an Aboriginal Australian Member of Parliament Mandatory. and we were up against UMS 2, the team that ranked third in the breaking to the quarters. What chance did we, the team that ranked sixth, have?
But amazingly, we trumped them with a 2-1 win. and we moved along into the semifinals. This time, we were put up against UNIMAS 2, the team that beat the ranked number 1 team breaking to quarters, UiTM Sabah 1. The motion? This House Believes that Torture for Interrogation of Terrorist Suspects in Justifiable. And we were the opposition. Coming out of the debate room, we were in low spirits because we thought we had not done very well. Some points the opponent raised, we didn't manage to handle properly.
So imagine our surprise when the Chief Adjudicator announced that we were going to the finals! (with a split decision of 4-1) I could have sworn, my mouth remained open even after 5 minutes of the announcement. We really hadn't expected it at all. After conversing with the other judges, it seems that the issues we raised were more pertinent than the issues raised by the government. So now, we are going to the finals. *phew*
The motion for the finals, were: This House Would make Voting for the Malaysian General Elections Compulsory. We were up against UiTM Sarawak 1, and we were again, the opposition. Before the finals, we made a deal amongst ourselves, to try our best, and that no matter what the verdict, we will have no regrets. After all, we were kinda like the underdogs, right? the team with virtually no experience, but managing to go all the way to the finals.
Sadly, we didn't manage to win. We chose the wrong stance, but there were other areas in which we didn't prioritize that well. But we have tried our best. And that speaks volumes. After all, we are the second best debate team in the Borneo Cup right?? haha..anyways....pictures:
The females who went to Borneo Cup: Evelyn, Sophia, Me, and Ann
With Kevin Tan, one of my trainers and mentor, which I hold in very high esteem. Mind you, he also went all the way to the finals in the Borneo Cup the previous year =)
My other trainer and mentor, Nick Chong. Although sometimes sarcastic to a point, he actually is a nice person. =p
With my team and the trophy, Evelyn, me, and Ann. I am very grateful that they were in this competition with me, and I wouldn't have been able to go this far without them =)
With my two mentors and trainers, who are, very definitely, very proud of me..hehe..
This was taken with one of the guys I met during my rounds in the Preliminaries. He's from the Asian Tourism Institute, and a member of the Swing team.More pictures to follow, but I need to get them from Sophia first =) After all, she's the camerawoman..haha...
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