They are Shaadmaan Siddique and Azraf Ahmad.
The International Debate Camp and the Porto Open 2012 was held recently in a bid to create opportunity for debaters from all over the world to hone up their debating skills as well as make new and exciting friends.
The week-long fest was organized by the Sociedade de Debate daUniversidade do Porto.
Featuring famous debate lecturers, including Michael Shapira, MajaNenadovic, Hugh Burns, Ben Woolgar and FilipDobranic the debaters where taught the art of debating British Parliamentary format during the workshop.
The lectures and workshops enlightened on the basics of debate to the realms of psychology and even the phenomena that is the internet.
After 5 days of hard work in the Camp in Ofir, the participants moved back to Porto for the Open.
Before debates started the debaters were given the option to take a boat cruise of the Duro River and withhold the beauty of Porto’s 7 majestic bridges.
The Open consisted of 24 teams who debated over 5 preliminary rounds in The University of Porto’s Science and Technology faculty.
After the 5 intense debates 8 teams were selected for the semifinals. The following day, the semifinalists gathered at the Architectural Faculty for the final day of debate. After a closely contested semifinal, the final 4 emerged who contested for the championship.
The finalists were Viktor Egri and Bologato Janos as Opening Government, ShaadmaanSiddiqui and Azraf Ahmad as Opening Opposition, ValdoneKoliyatyte and Veronica Zhirnova as Closing Government and Ana Cunha and Matilde Lourenco as Closing Opposition.
After an intense final, Shaadmaan Siddique and Azraf Ahmad from Bangladesh finally managed to win the debate and emerge as champions. Overall, the best speaker throughout the tournament was Matilde Lourenco.
