Asian Scholastic Debate Tournament 2021

And it’s a wrap! The first Asian Scholastic Debate Tournament 2021, organised by Malaysian Institute of Debate and Public Speaking and powered by POWIIS, concluded virtually on the evening of 21st March. Two days of intense but exciting debates took place involving 58 teams from 5 countries. Even though they were miles apart and could not come together because of the pandemic, the spirit of community and scholarship among the participants remained strong and many of them were excited to be given an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and intellect while awaiting for official face-to-face rounds of global academic and debating competitions to return in the coming months.

As the institutional partner, POWIIS was represented by three teams, two of which consisted entirely of Year 7’s. It was heartening to note that one of the Year 7 teams broke into the quarter-finals at their first attempt! However, the senior team was the icing on the cake. Two of their debaters took speaker awards, with Yeoh Wei Yi coming 7th and Jenny Ooi emerging Overall Best Speaker!

Kudos to all our debaters for their excellent performance, and also to Mr. Darren Lim and team for their dedication in bringing high-quality debates to POWIIS as well as to MIDP for a successful partnership and organisation of a highly commended tournament.