Three 15-year-old Pakistani Students clinches the final of the Karl Popper Debating Championship (KPDC), one of the largest high school tournaments in the world, in Mexico. Pakistan Zindabad
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debate competition in Mexico,
The Karl Popper Debating Championship is one of the largest high school tournaments in the world, bringing together teams from all five continents to debate on a mix of prepared and impromptu motions connected to the topic of the Youth Forum. The tournament features six preliminary rounds and a break to octo-finals.
The format of the competition is the Karl Popper format, which involves two teams of three speakers. Direct clash between the speakers is provided through a total of four cross-examination periods that take place after the first two speeches for each side. For more information related to the format,
If you cannot find a complete 3-member team, but you would still like to participate, please contact the Forum Coordinator as soon as possible. It is possible to pair incomplete teams together to form an international team competing in the KPDC.
There are two prepared motions (topics) for the competition:
“State-sanctioned torture is justifiable in exceptional circumstances.”
“Guantanamo Bay prison should be closed down immediately”
This is the structure of the competition:
The second topic will be announced by mid December.
The schedule for competition will be like this:
Round I – prepared topic I
Round II – prepared topic I
Round III – limited-time prep
Round IV– limited-time prep
Round V – prepared topic II
Round VI – prepared topic II
Octofinals – limited time prep
Quarterfinals – prepared topic I
Semifinals – limited time prep
Finals – prepared topic II
Round I is randomly drawn. Rounds II-VI are power-paired – i.e., teams face opponents that are as competitively successful in the competition as they are at that point.
We are happy to release the full speaker rankings from this year's Karl Popper Debating Championship. These were also the results that were used to determine the pairing of teams for the Mixed Teams Tournament, which sees experienced and novice speakers from different countries put together to create a peer-driven learning environment.
Rank | Team | Speaker Name | Total | High | Low | Final |
1 | Pakistan | Zainab Hameed | 501.61 | 30 | 26 | 445.61 |
2 | Pakistan | Azeem Liaquaat | 500.4 | 30 | 26 | 444.4 |
3 | USA AHL | David Yoo | 500 | 30 | 26 | 444 |
4 | USA AHL | Brian Chang | 497 | 30 | 25 | 442 |
5 | Pakistan | Ahmed Shujjan | 496.8 | 29 | 26 | 441.8 |
6 | Lithuania | Simonas Bartulis | 495 | 30 | 25 | 440 |
7 | Korea | Yoonjoe Sul | 491 | 29 | 25 | 437 |
8 | Team Senorita | Christina Seong | 488 | 29 | 25 | 434 |
9 | Korea | Helen Song | 486 | 29 | 24 | 433 |
10 | Mexico A | Lucia Arce | 485 | 29 | 24 | 432 |
11 | Korea | Peter Kim | 483 | 29 | 23 | 431 |
11 | Team Senorita | May Lim | 485 | 29 | 25 | 431 |
13 | Japan | Masahiro Kusunoki | 482 | 29 | 23 | 430 |
13 | USA AHL | Linda Shin | 483 | 29 | 24 | 430 |
15 | Estonia | Kristin Parts | 483 | 29 | 25 | 429 |
16 | YOLO | David Lee | 479 | 28 | 24 | 427 |
17 | Estonia | Katriin Bachmann | 478 | 29 | 24 | 425 |
18 | Estonia | Deivi Ois | 477 | 29 | 24 | 424 |
18 | Lithuania | Egle Kavaliunaite | 476 | 28 | 24 | 424 |
20 | Team Senorita | Soomin Choi | 473 | 28 | 25 | 420 |
21 | Lithuania | Justinas Cirtautas | 472 | 28 | 25 | 419 |
22 | Team Sunly | Sunmin Park | 469.2 | 28 | 23 | 418.2 |
23 | Tunisia | Iheb Jemel | 466 | 28 | 22 | 416 |
23 | Zimbabwe | Nicola Hove | 466 | 28 | 22 | 416 |
25 | YOLO | Julie Joosong Kim | 466 | 29 | 24 | 413 |
25 | YOLO | Caleb Seungyeon Choi | 466 | 29 | 24 | 413 |
27 | Belarus | Alexander Korpechkin | 464 | 29 | 23 | 412 |
27 | Zimbabwe | Charmaine Nyakonda | 464 | 28 | 24 | 412 |
29 | Belarus | Rammi Dgham | 462 | 28 | 23 | 411 |
29 | Macedonia | Sara Kajevikj | 463 | 28 | 24 | 411 |
31 | Team Sunly | Danny Choo | 459.6 | 27 | 23 | 409.6 |
32 | Mexico B | Monica Martin del Campo | 460 | 28 | 24 | 408 |
32 | Slovakia - Tisovec | Andrej Batyas | 458 | 27 | 23 | 408 |
32 | Tunisia | Mohamed Ourir | 459 | 28 | 23 | 408 |
35 | Palestine | Faiq Habash | 457 | 29 | 21 | 407 |
35 | Team BoA | YunAh Ko | 459 | 28 | 24 | 407 |
35 | Tunisia | Ons M'Saad | 457 | 28 | 22 | 407 |
38 | Mexico A | Jesus Isaac | 456 | 27 | 23 | 406 |
39 | Team Panda | Nima Olumi | 454 | 27 | 22 | 405 |
40 | Japan | Kazuki Yoshii | 455 | 28 | 23 | 404 |
41 | Korea NLCS A | Eun Seo Choi | 451 | 26 | 22 | 403 |
41 | Team Panda | Carter Sheffield | 453 | 27 | 23 | 403 |
43 | Belarus | Vladimir Volkov | 452 | 28 | 23 | 401 |
43 | Palestine | Dina Toubasi | 450 | 27 | 22 | 401 |
45 | Japan | Masaaki Nando | 450 | 27 | 23 | 400 |
45 | OPPA | Eric Kang | 450 | 27 | 23 | 400 |
45 | Slovakia | Peter Blaha | 450 | 27 | 23 | 400 |
45 | Team Panda | Paul K Lee | 450 | 28 | 22 | 400 |
49 | Korea NLCS B | Othello Hong | 447 | 26 | 22 | 399 |
49 | Mexico A | Guillermo Tamayo Romero | 449 | 27 | 23 | 399 |
49 | Team BoA | Paul Jung | 448 | 27 | 22 | 399 |
52 | Team Sunly | Ally Jung | 447.6 | 27 | 22 | 398.6 |
53 | Korea NLCS A | Tac Hwa Hong | 448 | 27 | 23 | 398 |
53 | OPPA | Heesoo Lee | 449 | 28 | 23 | 398 |
53 | OPPA | Hyunho Jeon | 449 | 28 | 23 | 398 |
53 | Palestine | Dina Amro | 448 | 28 | 22 | 398 |
53 | Slovakia - Tisovec | Zuzana Szalaiova | 448 | 27 | 23 | 398 |
58 | Macedonia | Nikola Zhivkovikj | 447 | 29 | 21 | 397 |
58 | Mexico B | Greta Angel Hernandez | 447 | 27 | 23 | 397 |
58 | Team BoA | Harry Kim | 448 | 28 | 23 | 397 |
61 | Ingsoc | Harry Go | 444 | 27 | 21 | 396 |
61 | Rositam | Ana Maria Diez | 444 | 28 | 20 | 396 |
61 | Slovakia | Zuzana Butonova | 446 | 27 | 23 | 396 |
64 | Korea NLCS C | Sam Ha | 444 | 27 | 22 | 395 |
64 | Rositam | Carolina Fajardo | 442 | 27 | 20 | 395 |
66 | Slovakia - Tisovec | Milica Majorcikova | 442 | 27 | 22 | 393 |
67 | Korea NLCS B | Danny Kim | 441 | 27 | 22 | 392 |
67 | Korea NLCS C | Neil Song | 441 | 27 | 22 | 392 |
69 | Korea NLCS C | Dyan Jeong | 441 | 27 | 23 | 391 |
70 | Rositam | Ana Paula Rojas | 438 | 28 | 20 | 390 |
70 | Russia | Sergei Dmitriev | 439 | 28 | 21 | 390 |
72 | Ingsoc | Maria Salazar Alfaro | 436 | 26 | 22 | 388 |
73 | Korea NLCS A | Seung Heon Oh | 436 | 27 | 22 | 387 |
73 | Korea NLCS B | Ted Cho | 435 | 26 | 22 | 387 |
75 | Slovakia | Marek Engel | 436 | 28 | 22 | 386 |
76 | Russia | Daria Khutoryanskaya | 431 | 26 | 20 | 385 |
77 | Zimbabwe | Task Ohmori | 430 | 26 | 20 | 384 |
78 | Macedonia | Dobromir Aleksik | 432 | 27 | 22 | 383 |
78 | New York City | Anastacia Netrunenko | 432 | 27 | 22 | 383 |
80 | New York City | Hanna Sperver | 429 | 27 | 20 | 382 |
81 | Haiti | Sachernka Anacassis | 431 | 28 | 22 | 381 |
82 | Russia | Evgenii Aferin | 428 | 29 | 20 | 379 |
83 | New York City | Gabriella Ven Hutta | 424 | 27 | 22 | 375 |
84 | Guatemala | Susana Mesia | 419 | 26 | 21 | 372 |
84 | Haiti | Fabiola Jean-Charles | 419 | 26 | 21 | 372 |
86 | Guatemala | Rodrigo Marroquin | 416 | 25 | 21 | 370 |
87 | Mexico B | Luz Adriana Valtiera Nieto | 414 | 27 | 20 | 367 |
88 | Guatemala | Yohan Mesia | 410 | 25 | 21 | 364 |
89 | Haiti | Mirlene Blanchard | 406 | 25 | 20 | 361 |
90 | Ingsoc | Aboubakr Oraby | 402 | 25 | 20 | 357 |