Moments from Ascension 2018

IUB Ascension 2018 was held from September 20-22, with the mammoth total of 116 teams and 75 international participants. Dubbed as the biggest debating festival in South Asia, Ascension was acclaimed as one of the best tournaments by both local and international participants. The tournament has ended but a total of 3,000 pictures were taken by tournament photographer Sadid Islam to document what happened. Weekend Tribune looks back at some moments from the event.

IUB Ascension 2018 Factbox

Open category

Champion: Delhi University (India)

Representatives: Parth Maniktala and Jainah

Runners-up: Taylor’s University (Malaysia)

Representatives: Amrit Agastia, Sher May Nar

Open category finalists:

Independent University, Bangladesh

Representatives: Aaqib Farhan Hossain, Nabil Hasan

Scholastica Mirpur

Representatives: Jubayer Ibn Hamid, Kazi fardeen Ishraq

Best speaker of the tournament: Sajid Asbat Khandaker (Dhaka University)

Best speaker of the final: Parth Maniktala (Delhi University)

Inter-school category

Champion: Debate Network Nepal

Representatives: Apratim Shrivastav, Ang Sonam Sherpa

Runners-up: Rajuk College

Representatives: Unayza Anika, Irhum Shafkat

Inter-school finalists:

Sunnydale

Representatives: Al Wasee, Turza Saha

Manarat

Representatives: Elham Ali, Seeam Marjan

Novice-final category

Champion: Khulna University

Representatives: Anmon Rahman, Ashit Kumar Dutta

Runners-up: Kathmandu University School of Law

Representatives: Aarya Ghimire, Anoushka Pant

Novice Finalists:

Dhaka University

Representatives: Kazi Amanuzzaman, Maruf Hasan

Brihaspati Vidyasadan (Nepal)

Representatives: Shubham Bikram Shah, Shalupa Khanal

Top ten speakers of the open category:

Sajid Asbat Khandaker- Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University

Parth Maniktala- Delhi University, India

Sher May- Taylor’s University, Malaysia

Jainah- Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Sourodip Paul- Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University

Mohammed Wasif Amin Khan- Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University

Amrit Agastia- Taylor’s University, Malaysia

Saad Ashraf- Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University

Aaqib Farhan Hossain- Independent University, Bangladesh

Kazi Ashfaqul Huq- Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University

Top Ten speakers from School:

Jubayer Ibn Hamid- Scholastica Mirpur

Mahathir Mahammud- Academia

Farhan Tajwar- Mastermind

Nayara Noor- Scholastica Uttara

Kazi Fardeen Ishraq- Scholastica Mirpur

Yaman Karim- Scholastica Uttara

Turza Saha- Sunnydale

Al Wasee- Sunnydale

Inqiyad Patwary- Mastermind

Ayat Rahman- Academia

IUB Ascension organizing committee in 2016 consisted of 40 members; in 2017 it increased to 72, and in 2018 it reached 113. In this photo most of the members of that committee can be seen, as fitting them all into one frame is a challenge.

The president of Bangladesh Debating Council and tournament director of IUB Ascension 2018 hosted the closing ceremony himself. The break night coordinator Archi Ananya is also seen in this photo.

Aarya Ghimire and Anoushka Pant from Kathmandu School of Law receives the novice runners-up prize from Pro Vice Chancellor Milan Pagon and Registrar Brig Gen (Retd) Md Anwarul Islam. n

The Vice Chancellor of Independent University, Bangladesh, Professor M Omar Rahman is one of the main initiators of IUB Ascension since 2016. He is seen was giving a speech at the closing ceremony of the event.

Just as last year, the Debate Network Nepal brought the biggest contingent of debaters and adjudicators to Bangladesh. Only this time they left with trophies: championship in inter-school category and runners-up in novice category.