Medical students win debating competition

In the final of the Sixth American University of Sharjah Intercollegiate Debating Championships, Gulf Medical University beat Preston University.

SHARJAH // A strong argument that the United Nations has been ineffective in maintaining world peace helped a team from Gulf Medical University (GMU) clinch a UAE student debating championship. GMU's Team 1 beat Preston University's Team 1 in the final of the Sixth American University of Sharjah (AUS) Intercollegiate Debating Championships which pitted 18 teams from nine universities against each other.

GMU Team 1 was made up of Temitope Smith, Sarhan Sadiq, Ohmed Khilji and Muhammad Rashed. The topic of the final debate, on Tuesday, was: "This house believes that the UN has proved ineffective in keeping world peace." GMU Team 1 said UN member states lacked veto power. They also pointed to outbreaks of war in recent decades, and argued that the United States dominated the world body. Ms Smith, who received the award for best speaker, said: "My teammates and I put a lot of effort into preparing for our debates, so the win felt like it was well deserved." Mashaal Naeem, the president of the AUS Debate Club, said there had been much interest in this year's event. "We had a lot of universities wanting to participate in the competition, and many visitors from other emirates had come in just to watch the various debates," she said.

"Given that we always see immense commitment on the part of our participants and the greater interest in debating within the region, we, as a debate club, hope to expand the scope of our contest soon to include teams from all over the GCC." @Email:[e-mail]