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Team India at World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) 2018, Zagreb, Croatia
Result
For the first time in ISDS history, Team India reached the Semi-Finals and Finals of WSDC, winning the Silver against Team China.
Team India lost the final on a narrow margin in a 5-4 decision proposing the motion ‘This house believes that the West should end all arms sales and military cooperation with Saudi Arabia’.
Team India Debater Dhananjay Ashok was ranked as the best speaker in the world and Team India Debaters Hemanth Chakravarthy and Tejas Subramaniam ranked 8th and 7th best ESL speakers respectively.
Debaters
Manya Gupta
Manya is in 11th Standard, studying in Neerja Modi School, Jaipur.
Dhananjay Ashok
Dhananjay passed out from The International School Bangalore, and is joining University of Toronto. He was part of Team India at WSDC 2016, 2017 and 2018. At WSDC 2018, Dhananjay Ashok was ranked as the Best Speaker in the World. Additionally, he also ranked as the best speaker in the English as Second Language (ESL) category.
Hemanth Chakravarthy
Hemanth passed out from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) School, KK Nagar, Chennai, and is joining Harvard University in August this year. He represented India at WSDC 2015, 2016 and 2017. At WSDC 2018, was ranked as 8th Best ESL Speaker in the English as Second Language category and ranked 16th best speaker of the tournament.
Saranya Ravindran
Saranya is in 10th Standard, studying in PSBB School, KK Nagar, Chennai.
Tejas Subramaniam
Tejas, the youngest member on the team, is currently in his 11th grade at the PSBB School, K.K. Nagar, Chennai. He was a part of the ISDS team that won the International Competition for Young Debaters, 2017, where he was ranked the best speaker in the Open category, and of Team India at WSDC 2017, in Bali, Indonesia. At WSDC 2018, he was ranked as 7th Best ESL Speaker and the 10th best speaker of the tournament.
Coaches and Judges
Sayeqa Islam
Sayeqa has previously coached India in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, and 2018. She has also coached Team England and Team New Zealand in the past, making her one of the most successful coaches in the World. Sayeqa Islam is also the mentor and backbone of ISDS. She also has an illustrious schools and universities debating career, where she has both won several speaker awards (e.g.: best speaker at the Australasian Debating Championships), as well as served on the Chief Adjudication Panel of several university tournaments (Australasians, Oxford IV, etc.). Sayeqa currently works as an education and capacity building specialist in London.
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, 2017, and 2018. Dhruva is now a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University pursuing his Master’s in Development Studies.
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
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