Mangaluru: The Debate Battle, an event that was part of Division Premier League of the Toastmasters of Division F (Dist.121), comprising members of Mangaluru, Udupi, Manipal, Bantwal, Sullia and Shimoga was held on Sunday 01 November 2020 on the Zoom platform.
The event was a culmination of contests that were held at the Club and Area levels.
Dr. Molly Chaudhuri, Division Director, who was present on the occasion, expressed her happiness at being supported in her vision to empower toastmaster engagement activities in the face of the pandemic when all meetings were going online.
“Debating helps us to develop essential critical thinking skills – the ability to make reasoned and well thought out arguments in addition to questioning the evidence presented. Critical thinking enables us to build a healthy attitude to questioning,” she said, as she welcomed the gathering.
Dr. Malini Hebbar, Contest Chair, expressed appreciation for the efforts put in by the various functionaries and contestants to make the occasion memorable for all.
Chief Judge Bharathi Shevgoor flagged off the debate after briefing the judges and ensuring that all requirements were met.
The contestants of the Debate Battle Semi-finals 1 were:
Team B (Proposers): Shalini Prabhu, Saurav Baliga, Maria D’Costa
Team C (Opposers): Faiz Ulla Sharief, Deeksha Shetty, Pratheeksha K R
The Topic: 24/7 news channels should be banned.
The contestants of the Debate Battle Semi-finals 2 were:
Team A (Proposers): Flexon Joseph Fernandes, Saharsh Ranjan, Richa Kaushik.
Team D (Opposers): Sarah Antonita Monis, Anna Una Crasta, Deepa Kotari.
Topic – Cricket is destroying other sports in India.
The Finalists were Team C (Proposers) and team D (Opposers).
The topic was: “Human beings have become kinder and more humane down the ages”. Team C (Faiz Ulla Sharief, Deeksha Shetty, Pratheeksha K R) )were the winners of the Debate battle finals.
Shruthi Kotian, Mahima Bhat, and Jyothika Shetty were the moderators. Shivani Baliga and Nikita L Menezes were the timers. while Dr. Meera A Rao was the sergeant-at-arms. Shashikant M and Sandeep Prabhu were the Zoom masters. Shruthi Kotian, Mahima Bhat, Flexon Joseph Fernandes, Supragna K, TM Azma Imtiaz Sheikh, Sahana Praveen Bhandari, and Adithya Kannan were the PR team. Geeta Pereira was the Tally Counter. Area Directors Deepa Bhandary, Beena Shetty, Sapna Shenoy, Jyothika Shetty were present on the occasion.
An education session by Deepak Justin, on his experiences as an award-winning public speaker of international stature, was well received by the audience, almost 200 toastmasters from various districts. Vidya Shenoy moderated the session. MN Pai introduced the resource person.
