A drastic year with momentous achievements – UM English Debating Team strived excellence in 2020
COVID-19 had undeniably changed the lifestyles and communication methods of individuals during the past few months, pushing the limits of human beings with the usage of different online communication platforms regardless in workplace or in school. The same goes for the debate circle, many tournaments had turned to online competitions. Though technical issues are inevitable, online tournaments created more opportunities for debaters to compete in international, national and regional competitions. UMEDT Team members made great use of this period and earned striking achievements throughout the year.
From the most recent international competition, United Asian Debating Championship (UADC), which was in the format of Asian parliamentary with 3 speakers in each team. 3 of UMEDT’s many talents advanced into quarter finals of EFL category and are all top 10 best speakers. LIEW FOOK KHEI, a third-year student from Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) and a member of Honours College and Shiu Pong College (SPC) placed 2nd in EFL category; ZHOU YONG YI, a fourth-year student from Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) and a member of Honours College and Lui Chee Woo College (LCWC) placed 5th in EFL category; ZHANG YI, a fifth-year student from the Faculty of Business Administration and a member of Moon Chun Memorial College placed 7th in EFL category.
In another international competition, Northeast Asian Debate Championship (NEADC), the competition format is British Parliamentary with 2 debaters forming 1 team. UMEDT successfully advanced into semi-finals and one of the debaters placed 5th in individual ranking. The debaters include LIEW FOOK KHEI, a third-year student from Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) and a member of Honours College and Shiu Pong College (SPC), placing 5th Best Speaker and ZHOU YONG YI, a fourth-year student from Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) and a member of Honours College and Lui Chee Woo College (LCWC).
UMEDT’s team members also successfully proceeded into Open Semi Finals in Japan British Parliamentary (Japan BP), an international tournament held in the format of British Parliamentary. The two remarkable debaters include LIEW FOOK KHEI, a third-year student from Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) and a member of Honours College and Shiu Pong College (SPC) and TANG CHEOK MAN, a first-year student from Faculty of Social Science (FSS) and a member of Moon Chun Memorial College (MCMC).
2020 is a challenging year with all the changes that comes along, and UMEDT team members were capable to adapt and strive for excellence simultaneously. It may be a tough journey, but UMEDT will never give up and more is to come from EDT in 2021.
  
United Asian Debating Championship Northeast Asian Debate Championship
Japan British Parliamentary
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