Sajid Asbat Khandaker and Sourodip Paul of BRAC A bring honor to Bangladesh by winning the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) 2022, which is referred to as the “World Cup of Debate.” They were the very first team from Bangladesh to make it to the finals of this illustrious event. Sajid Khandaker was named the second-best speaker in the ESL category and the tenth-best speaker overall. And Sourodip Paul was ranked as the sixth best speaker in the ESL category.
They are the first South Asians to attain this distinction. Earlier in 2017, one of the members, Sajid, had won the Asian British Parliamentary election. As Sourodip commented, “It feels unreal. We never believed this to be possible. Despite language problems and numerous other obstacles, we have succeeded.”
The duo from BRAC University, known as BRAC A, was the first team from Bangladesh to reach the finals and win the world’s largest debating event, which is held yearly in English and features university teams from around the world.
The World Universities Debating Championship, or WUDC in short, is organized by the World Universities Debating Council, which determines the debate rules, eligibility requirements, and annual host. This year’s competition took place in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The event took place online as a result of COVID-19.
During the preliminary rounds of the tournament, Sajid and Sourodip placed sixth in the open category, smashing previous records for any Bangladeshi team.
The students from Brac University faced Princeton University, National University of Singapore, and Ateneo de Manila University in the final, which was broadcast live on the Belgrade WUDC Live Streams Facebook page.
The WUDC follows the British Parliamentary debate style, where a “move” is announced 15 minutes prior to each round. Motions are derived from a vast array of subject areas, such as domestic and foreign affairs, philosophy, political theory, etc. The debaters are unaware of the motion until it is announced.
Each round features four teams, two on each side. Each team in the round must refute any arguments presented by the two opposing teams and defend the motion more effectively than the other team on its own side.
Each of the four teams consists of two people, with a maximum time constraint of seven minutes for each speech. After all eight speakers have presented their arguments, the judges evaluate the teams from 1 (best) to 4 (worst).
The WUDC is governed by the World Universities Debating Council, a representative body in which each nation attending Worlds is able to participate. The Council is led by an Executive Committee and distributes proportional voting authority based on the historic participation of nations in the competition. The Council meets annually on New Year’s Day.
