And the evening and the morning were the third day of Botswana Worlds 2011. A delay usual for events of this size collided with today’s schedule. But after all, today brought on what all those hundreds of debaters came to Botswana for: The first three of a total of nine preliminary rounds were held today. But most of the day meant waiting for speakers as well as for judges – waiting for registration, waiting for debates to commence, waiting for meals. However, the atmosphere is still great, thanks to good weather and friendly supporters.

Even those at home had to wait. Of course – livestreaming cannot begin before debaters in Gaborone know the motion, find their room and start prelims. Those of you who missed today’s livestream from three rooms of each prelim may watch the recorded debates online on iDebate, the blog of the International Debate Education Association. Among these is a competition of round 2 where Munich A (opening government) meets Monash B (opening opposition), Middle Temple A (closing government) and Bristol B (closing opposition) on the motion “This house believes that all countries should have the right to possess nuclear weapons.“ Yeah, right: You may watch our guys Markus Dankerl and Wladi Jachtschenko from Munich online while debating their second motion of this year’s Worlds.

Laid back as usual – that is our correspondent Henrik Maedler while waiting: “Time inbetween Rounds was spent with beer in the sun.“ He also rports how the massive delay of the first real debating day occurred: All participants have to register in the morning, speaker as well as judges. That happens via manual database entry which does not work correctly.

Stop waiting and have a look on a first overview over very view results: Colm Flynn provides them on his World Debating Website. There it looks like Australia is leading already… Remember Worlds history: Sydney won the final of WUDC 2010!

Motions:

• Round 1:  This house believes that national sporting teams should reflect the diversity of the national population.
• Round 2: This house believes that all countries should have the right to possess nuclear weapons.
• Round 3: This house believes that governments should not provide benefits on the basis of marital status.

apf / glx