(UTV | COLOMBO) – Canada beat Sri Lanka to win the online World School Debating Championship 2020, while Sri Lanka was named the best ESL (English was a second language) team.
Accordingly, Sri Lanka National Debate Team emerged as the first runner-up in the final of the Championship, which was attended by 68 nations.
Sri Lanka’s Shalem Sumanthiran won the seventh place in the best ESL Speakers’ category.
The six-member team consists of Janul de Silva and Shalem Sumanthiran from Royal College Colombo, Rahul de Silva and Jasmine Markandu from the Colombo International School, Chanidu Ratnayake from Ananda College Colombo and Reiha Wimalasekera from ladies’ College Colombo.
Sanjith Dias and Kithmina Hewage are the coaches of the National Debate Team of Sri Lanka.
Team Sri Lanka qualified for the final after defeating Team Ireland 7-0 in the semi-final.
The Championships is an annual English-language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different countries in the world.