Patana Students at Oxford International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD) 2026

On Saturday 2nd May 2026, Gabrielle (Gabby) Thepsoparn and Narida (Nia) Ekaraphanich (then in Year10) had the honour of representing Thailand in the Oxford International Competition for Young Debaters (ICYD) 2026, hosted by the prestigious Oxford Union in Oxford University, UK. The tournament was known as ‘finals day’, intended for the most competitive teams that passed their respective regional qualifiers to debate each other. 

Before earning their place in Oxford, the pair first competed in the Thai regional qualifier in February, where only three teams out of forty-four were able to secure a spot in the finals. ICYD followed a British Parliamentary format, with four teams competing in each room across four preliminary rounds. Points were awarded after each round based on team rankings, and those with the highest cumulative totals at the end would ‘break’ into the finals. The two were used to debating in a different format (Asian parliamentary and World Schools) and to compete in this tournament presented a new challenge to learn a new debating style – on top of their existing academic workload from the midcourse exams.

Out of 51 nationally ranked teams across the UK and the world, Gabby and Nia managed to ‘break’ or qualify into the ESL (English as a Second Language) finals. After 14 hours of intense debate, the team came out on top, being crowned as ESL champions – breaking India’s five-year winning streak and marking a first-time victory for Thailand.  Well done!