Oldham Cup 2019

Team India made it to finals at the 5th Oldham Cup 2019 in Singapore! After winning 5 out of 6 preliminary rounds, we ranked second and progressed to the elimination rounds.

Team India won a closely fought semi-final against Team Singapore before bowing out in the finals to Team China.

Manya Gupta, Tejas Subramaniam and Bhavya Shah all ranked among the top 10 individual speakers of the tournament, and Tejas was adjudged the best speaker in the final.

Tejas Subramaniam
Prior to 2019, Tejas represented India in 2017 and 2018 (where he was also adjudged 10th best speaker in the world). Tejas was also best speaker at ICYD 2017. Tejas is in 12th grade, and studies in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School in Chennai.

Manya Gupta
Prior to 2019, Manya was on Team India 2018. She is now in 12th grade, and studies in Neerja Modi School, Jaipur.

Karan Sampath
Karan is in 12th grade and studies in The Doon School, Dehradun

Bhavya Shah
Bhavya is the first person from Mumbai and the first visually impaired debater to get on Team India. He studies in 12th grade in Rao Junior College of Science.

Saranya Ravindran
Prior to 2019, Saranya represented India in 2018. She is in the 11th grade and studies in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School in Chennai.

Dhruva Bhat

Dhruva a head coach for Team India. He 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, 2017, and 2018. Dhruva is now a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University pursuing his Master’s in Development Studies.

Dhananjay Ashok

Dhananjay is an Assistant Coach for Team India. He has represented Team India in 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2018, he was the first ever English-as-a-Second-Language speaker to be adjudged best speaker in the world. Dhananjay is majoring in Computer Science and Economics at the University of Toronto.

Kenza Wilks

Kenza is also an Assistant Coach and judge for Team India. He represented Team England in 2016 and 2017, when England won the tournament and finished as finalists respectively. In 2017, Kenza was adjudged best speaker in the world. After spending a year at Tsinghua University as a Confucious Scholar, Kenza now studies Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) at King’s College in London.