BY ANISH KUMAR HAZRA

GOING to the World Schools Debating Championships in Athens was an amazing experience for me and my four fellow RIJC students.

We represented Singapore and made it to the semi-finals - narrowly losing to New Zealand, the eventual champions. We finished third from the 39 teams that took part.

As captain, I had to ensure the team stayed focused. And, as the team's first speaker, I had the least time to prepare for my speech. Even as the first opposition speaker, you have to rebut the first proposition's speech within minutes of hearing it.

While we all enjoyed our time at the championships, the road to Athens was an arduous one. It involved meeting the coaches up to four times a week for practice debates and public speaking exercises to hone our skills. Learning how to make the best possible rebuttal to an exceedingly convincing point is a skill that takes a lot of hard work to develop.

More than the debates themselves, we will remember the people we met in Athens. The teams always found time to chat with one another. We talked about what it was like to live, go to school and debate in our nations. We learnt from the Mexicans, for instance, just how challenging it can be to live in one of the most polluted cities in the world.

There was a team from India, made up of students from Chennai schools. We debated with them in the preliminary rounds on the issue 'that smoking should be banned in all public places'. It was a great debate and we won it 3-0, with all three judges voting in our favour.

Anish's father is Bengali and his mother is Gujarati. He and his parents were born here. -tabla!