AWSDC 2016

The ISDS India team won AWSDC 2016, Thailand, beating Debate Development Initiative(DDI), an (until then) undefeated Singapore team. In the initial rounds, they won 5 out of the 6 debates and broke 3rd among the 30 teams at the tournament. Tejaswini was placed in the top twenty speakers in the open category of the tournament. Dhruva Bhat was adjudged the second best adjudicator at the tournament.

• Aniroodh Ravikumar: Aniroodh is currently studying Physics and Computer Science at Cornell University, and is among the 4 Indian students in the country to receive the prestigious Tata scholarship. He was part of the Indian team at WSDC 2015 that was adjudged the 3rd best ESL team in the world and the team at AWSDC 2016 that won the tournament.
• Tejaswini Krishnaprasad: Tejaswini is pursuing a degree in law at Durham University in the UK. She was also a part of the Indian team at WSDC 2015 that was adjudged the 3rd best ESL team in the world and the team at AWSDC 2016 that won the tournament
• Chaitanya Kediyal: Chaitanya Kediyal is pursuing a degree in law at Oxford University. He was among the 40 top speakers in the open category at AWSDC 2016 and the 15^th best ESL speaker at WSDC 2017.
• AmrithaVarshiniRagavan: The youngest member of this team by far, Amritha is currently in the 11th Grade. She has taken up biology and intends to become a doctor.

Amrithavarshini Venkatesh

Amrithavarshini Venkatesh: Varshini has been associated with ISDS first as a debater on Team India (in 2008 and 2012) and now as a coach (starting 2014). Varshini graduated from the IIT Madras Humanities programme and consulted on international development efforts with the Dalberg Advisors Mumbai office before joining ISDS in full time capacity as Executive Director.

Dhruva Bhat

Dhruva represented India at WSDC in 2011, 2012, and 2013. He studied at Harvard University, where he served as the President of the Harvard College Debating Society. Dhruva coached India in 2016, and judged for India at AWSDC, progressing to judge the novice final.