Açı Debate Team had great success in reaching the octofinals at the EurOpen in Stuttgart. Team captain Kaan Özçelik and team members Kaan Hamilton, Nathan Candaner, Dağlar Özkan and Atakan Paksoy competed with 41 ambitious international teams and came 14th. < /p>
What was interesting was that there were 2 other teams from Turkey competing. Both were Turkish National Teams. Turkey B had invited Kaan Özçelik and Atakan Paksoy as shadow members but had not needed their delegation at the end. Team B never passed the finals at the tournament and stayed way behind Açı Team.
Turkey A, on the other hand had great success and ended up being the EurOpen Champions for 2011 ! It’s important to note that their average point was only 2 more than Açı Team’s – 15 versus 13. Açı Team had last year’s third team Germany in the octofinals and lost. Turkey A won the last match against Canada Calgery.
Like this, Açı Team had the extended and true pleasure of celebrating for the success of Turkey A too.
Açı Team had worked with great enthusiasm and altruism, giving up their vacation time, working on the last few weekends, forming info banks and sharing research, attending friendly debates and practicing endlessly with their advisor Mert Önen, not to forget along with some good pizza. The sweet fun of debating had become a veracious appetite.
