WSDC 2013

The team finished 10^th in the world, making it to the Octofinal in the prestigious knockout rounds and winning 6 out of 8 debates in the preliminary rounds. Siddarth Shrikanth was adjudged the 2^nd best , Dhruva Bhat the 6^th best and Shriya Narayanan the 7^th best ESL speakers in the world respectively. Siddarth, Dhruva, and Shriya also placed in the top 50 speakers in the world in the open category.

• Siddarth Shrikanth: Siddarth recently received a BA in Biological Sciences from Oxford University. He debated for India in 2010, 2011, and 2013, and represented the Indian Schools Debating Society(ISDS) in New Zealand in 2011. He finished as the 2^nd best English as a Second Language(ESL) Speaker at WSDC 2013. He has continued to debate at Oxford, getting to the Semi-final at the London School of Economics(LSE) Open 2015. He also served as the student body president at Oxford in 2015. He will be consulting as a business analyst for McKinsey and Company from September 2016.
• Dhruva Bhat: Dhruva graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Economics before heading to Oxford for an MPhil in Development Studies as a Rhodes Scholar. He debated for Team India at WSDC 2011, 2012 and 2013. He finished as 6^th best ESL Speaker at WSDC 2012 and the 6th best ESL speaker at WSDC 2013. At university, he was an integral part of the Harvard Debating Club, serving as the club’s president in 2015, when he steered the Harvard team to the finals of the United States University Debating Championships in 2016 and the knockout stages of the WUDC in 2015, 2016 and 2017. He co-coached a team representing ISDS at the Asia World Schools Debating Championships(AWSDC), 2016 and the Indian WSDC team at WSDC 2017.
• Satchit Sivakumar: Satchit is currently pursuing Electronics and Communication Engineering at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai. He has continued to debate at college, winning SSN debate 2014, and National Institute of Technology (NIT), Trichy Debates 2014.
• Arjun Vignesh: Arjun graduated with a degree in Biotechnology at Vellore Institute of Technology(VIT), Vellore. He is an active part of the VIT debate, serving as the president of the debate club in 2014-2015. He has achieved commendable results in several tournaments including a win at Christ Parliamentary Debate 2014 (where he was 10^th best speaker), semi-finals at National Academy of Legal Studies and Research(NALSAR) Inter Varsity 2015 (where he was 7^th best speaker) and Octofinals at Malaysia Debates Open 2016.
• Shriya Narayanan: Shriya represented India at WSDC 2013, being placed as the 7th best ESL speaker in the world. Shriya is currently studying Instrumentation and Control Engineering at NIT Trichy. She has continued to debate competitively, winning the novice finals at RV College of Engineering Debating Tournament 2014 and NIT debate 2014.

Sayeqa Islam

Sayeqa is a veteran in the international debate circuit. She debated for New Zealand at the World Schools Debating Championships(WSDC) 1999 and went on to have an illustrious college debating career at Victoria Wellington University.  She has been in the final of the UT Mara Australasian Debating Championship 2007 where she was also best speaker. She has also won the Cambridge Inter Varsity 2007 and the London School of Economics(LSE) Open 2010. She has also served on the Chief Adjudication panel at multiple international debating tournaments including the Australasian Debating Championship 2009 and Oxford Inter Varsity 2011.

Also undoubtedly one of the best coaches in the world, she has coached the New Zealand WSDC team to the quarterfinals in 2004. She took the Indian team to the knockout rounds in each of her three stints as coach in 2010, 2012, and 2013, as well as the England team at WSDC 2015. She coached the highly successful school, Dulwich College, in London.

This team was managed by Mrs. Syna Binoy.

Vignesh Ashok, and Ben Woolgar assisted in training the team.