The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools' Debating Team has qualified for the knock-out rounds of the 2010 World Schools' Debating Championships being held in Doha, Qatar. New Zealand is the defending champion after winning the title in Athens a year ago. New Zealand won six of its eight preliminary round debates, beating Slovakia, Estonia, the United States, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Romania, but losing narrowly to Israel and Australia. New Zealand lies in 7th position going into tomorrow's octo-finals, in which they will debate the Netherlands. If they are successful in that debate, then a match-up against either Ireland or Canada in the quarter-finals awaits them. The five person Russell McVeagh New Zealand Team is captained by Maria English (Samuel Marsden Collegiate School) and also comprises Jasmin Moran (Chilton St James School), Josh Baxter (Auckland Grammar School), Nick Cross (Scots College) and Aria Newfield (St Cuthbert's College).

The team is coached by Clodagh O'Connor-McKenna, a champion New Zealand university debater. Christopher Bishop of the New Zealand Schools Debating Council said the New Zealand team had got off to a great start to the competition and were in a strong position going into the knock-out rounds. "New Zealand's had a great response from the judges and the local Qatari audiences", he said. "Every debate from this point on will be close but New Zealand's got a great track record at the competition which should serve the team well", he said. The World Schools' Debating Championships, a global competition for high school debaters, has been held each year since 1988. This year's tournament involves 56 teams, including England, Scotland, India, Pakistan, the USA, South Africa, South Korea, and Japan. New Zealand has won the tournament four times since 1988 (in 1991, 1992, 1995 and 2009), were runners-up in 2008, and hosted the competition in 1994.