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Doha, October 18 (QNA) - Qatar Debate, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, in collaboration with the Abbasi Center for Islamic Studies at Stanford University, concluded the third edition of the U.S Universities Arabic Debating Championship, with the participation of 40 teams. The championship, in which 16 new universities are participating for the first time, aims to build partnerships with prestigious universities known for their scientific and cultural advancement and openness worldwide, and to create a supportive environment for coexistence, especially with 250 debaters from different cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds who are united by the language of dialogue and debate.
Duke University's team won the championship title by winning first place in the final of the third U.S Universities Arabic Debating Championship, consisting of Zainab Mokhtar, Dana Younis, Majid Al Munaifi, Saad Al Huraishi. Whereas the Harvard University team – the opposition – came in second place and consisted of Reem Ali, Iman Al Shouk, Heballah Muhammad, Caleb King. The two teams from Duke and Harvard universities competed for the title of the championship in the following debate: "This Council believes that the fight against climate change should include international action against sovereign states that allow environmental violations to act directly or negligently."
As for the best speakers of the American championship, the student Majid Al Menifi from Duke University came as best first Arabic language speaker. On the other hand, the debater Suad Al Gohary from the University of Illinois came as best Arabic as Second language speaker.
At the closing ceremony of the championship, the Outreach Programs Manager at Qatar Debates Abdulrahman Al Subaie praised this third extraordinary meeting with partners in the United States of America. He pointed out the importance of such tournaments in upholding an attitude of dialogue and reason, in light of the violence and intolerance the world is witnessing. Al Subaie added: "After three years of fruitful cooperation between Qatar Foundation, represented by Qatar Debate, and a number of prestigious American universities, we are standing on a balance of achievements and an accumulation of experience, we reached a level of balance reflected in every tournament and event we conduct, and in every agreement, we sign and every request for cooperation we receive." He expressed his happiness to see young people discussing common global issues in Arabic on American soil.
Qatar Debate is committed to promoting the culture of dialogue and debate worldwide, as well as committed to developing knowledge, evaluating experience and taking it to new wider horizons, Qatar Debate is pleased that today the members of the first batch of Qatar Debate Fellowship Program of Expert Researchers are holding their first meeting on the campus of Stanford University launching twelve qualitative research projects that will add a lot to the field of debates in its broadest sense.
The Center's Ambassador Mohammed Al Lakhn Al Marri presented an introductory workshop to all participants as a reminder of the rules of the tournament, including the rules of conduct and competition, the basics of debate and answering their questions and concerns. The second workshop was presented by QD's trainer, Saad Al Assad, to the judges related to all aspects that benefit them as international judges and review the concepts and standards through a specific test categorize judges based on their different levels before the start of the tournament and discuss the cases that may arise. (QNA)