A Turkish team won the first place in the 4th International Schools Arabic Debating Championship (ISADC), which concluded yesterday under the patronage of HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, vice chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF). The five-day event featured 250 debaters representing 50 Arabic-speaking and non-Arabic speaking countries.
The Turkish – the proposition – team was awarded the championship title, while Lebanese team took second place. The two teams debated the motion, ‘This House believes that the intervention of great powers and their political stands is a major cause of the deterioration of third world countries’. Third place went to the Omani team after competing against the Singaporean team.
The closing ceremony was attended by HE Sheikha Hind, Machaille al-Naimi, president of Community Development, QF, and Dr Hayat Abdullah Maarafi, executive director of QatarDebate, as well as a number of Arab and foreign ambassadors, dignitaries and representatives of the official sponsors, and guests from around the world.
The final round was presided over by Judge Dr Mutasim al-Mamari from Oman, and featured Nizar Mukhtar, Slaman Ali and Nadia Darwish from QatarDebate, Khalfa Aisha from Algeria, Fahad Alsubaie from Kuwait, Miqdad Ahmad from Sudan, and Wadha al-Hajri and Ali al-Zouqri from Qatar.
Mohamed al-Lakhn al-Marri was the master of ceremonies. Gratitude was also extended to the sponsors, including the official sponsor Qatar Primary Materials Company, represented by Dr Latifa Darwish; the international media partner Al Jazeera Media Network, represented by Ali al-Maslamani; and the official carrier Qatar Airways, represented by Saud Ahmed al-Emadi.
The best speakers of the 4th edition of ISADC: Ryan Majid al-Rifai from Kuwait in first place; Abdullah Fayez Ghazi al-Enezi from Kuwait in second place; Asmaa Koutan from Turkey in third place; Sara al Jadida from Tunisia in fourth place; Ibrahim Abdul Qader Mohamed from Australia in fifth place; Ramisa Aydin from Turkey in sixth place; Issa Ahmed Abdul Karim Mohamed from Kuwait in seventh place; Zainab Kokja from Turkey in eight place; Mariam bint Abdel Haq Ben Arabeya from Tunisia in ninth place;, and Salman Anas al-Hindi from Qatar in tenth place.
The top five speakers from non-Arabic speaking countries: Aqidat al Eza from Indonesia in first place; Aventa Zakia Wafda from Indonesia in second place; Noria Lailat al Sakina from Indonesia in third place; Moutalib Madina from Kazakhstan in fourth place; and Mohamed Fadil Ahmed Al Ansari from India in fifth place.
The Indonesian team was announced as the best Arabic speaking team from non-Arabic speakers, and the members were honoured at the closing ceremony. The three new ambassadors of QatarDebate – Bader al-Shatti from Kuwait, Miqdad Ahmad from Sudan, and Mohamed al-Lakhn al-Marri from Qatar – were also honoured.
HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani with the championship winning Turkish team.
