Oxford Student Is First S’porean To Win 3 Titles In World Debate Showdown, Was Actually A Drama Club Reject

Singaporean Oxford Student Falls In Love With Debate After Joining CCA As Second Choice, Now World’s Best

When he was rejected by his secondary school’s drama club, Mr Lee Chin Wee decided to join the debate club instead.

He soon fell in love with debating and rose through the ranks to become the CCA’s chairperson.

Now a final-year undergraduate at Oxford University, Mr Lee, 24, is the overall champion of the 2020 World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC), said to be the most prestigious debate competition in the world.

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Mr Lee also clinched the highly coveted “triple crown” after winning awards for the best speaker in the finals, and overall best speaker at the debate tournament, reports TODAY.

Used drama skills for debating

While Mr Lee was initially rejected by his secondary school’s drama club, he did not abandon the drama skills that he picked up in primary school.

Instead, he used the skills to improve his body language and tone during his debate competitions.

Although it was originally a ‘second-choice CCA’, Mr Lee fell in love with debating. He even won the Singapore Secondary Schools Debating Championships for 2 consecutive years in 2011 and 2012.

Mr Lee in 2019
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Debate became Mr Lee’s first choice when he went to Oxford. Despite making the team in 2017, he experienced Imposter Syndrome, saying that:

You worry that you’re not good enough, and that you might end up embarrassing the university.

First Singaporean to clinch 3 titles at world debate competition

Last Friday (3 Jan), Mr Lee clinched 3 titles at the WUDC — overall champion, best speaker in the finals and overall best speaker — an accomplishment which he described as being “surreal”.

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Mr Joel Law, president of Singapore’s Debate Association told TODAY that Mr Lee is the first Singaporean to clinch all 3 titles at the competition.

For this year’s competition, candidates from more than 240 universities took part and debated issues pertaining to politics and current affairs.

Took a break from debate in 2019

Despite his recent triumphs, Mr Lee’s journey wasn’t all smooth sailing.

For one, he did not make it to the team that represented Oxford at the 2019 WUDC after performing badly at the trials.

Upset with the results, Mr Lee took a short sabbatical from debate.

Mr Lee (right)
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During the break, Mr Lee spent time on other school activities such as providing students with business consulting experiences.

The break proved useful as Mr Lee made it to the 2020 WUDC team.

Focusing on exams now

Now a final year student, Mr Lee is “going to take a step back from debating for the time being” as he is currently prioritising his final examinations at Oxford.

After graduation, he will return to Singapore to pursue a career in the finance sector.

Congratulations, Mr Lee on his debating achievements

MS News would like to congratulate Mr Lee on the impressive feat.

Despite facing setbacks, he continued to work hard and pursue his dreams, and that’s something we can all learn from.

You can read some of his writings here.

Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.