The Georgetown Debating Union (GDU) at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q), a Qatar Foundation partner, emerged victorious for the third year in a row at the Qatar Universities National Debating Championship, which saw 28 teams from 10 universities compete in the 2022-2023 season, with the team of Dung Tran and Pragyan K Acharya clinching the victory.

Pragyan was also named the Best Speaker of the Grand Finals and the overall Best Speaker of the National Championship, capping off an outstanding performance by the GDU team.

The GDU team swept the Best Speaker awards, with Dung Tran coming in second, Gaebriel Olsen fourth, Tashafee Masoodi, Raed Asad, and Adrian Lopres tying for fifth, Yaseen Mohamed placing ninth, and Minahil Mahmud taking home tenth. Tashafee Masoodi was also named the Best Novice Speaker of the National Debating Championship, with Anupa Khanal coming in second place.

The championship hosted by QatarDebate is an annual debate competition that brings together some of the brightest varsity-level debaters from across Qatar to compete against one another in a series of intellectually rigorous and engaging debates.

From his first year at GU-Q, veteran debater and club president Acharya has helped lead the team to numerous victories. “Our team has an incredibly talented and dedicated group of debaters who are passionate about the sport and committed to achieving excellence,” he said. “The culture of hard work, dedication, and continuous improvement that we have built will continue to drive the team forward, and I have no doubt that this team will achieve even greater success in the future.”