Cambridge has won the European Debating Championships for the first time since 2007.

The winning team, Cambridge A, was comprised of Ashish Kumar and Anser Aftab. Kumar, a second-year lawyer at Pembroke, told Varsity: “I had snarky one-liners. Anser had arguments.”

“We had a fantastic time – the motions were fascinating. It turned out we put nice words in nice orders and people liked our words”

The championships were hosted by the Manchester Debating Union and the team completed twelve debates on their way to the final. The motion in the final was ‘This House Regrets the Demonisation of Islamic Extremists as Terrorists by the Western Media, Rather than Portraying them as Criminals with Legitimate Political Grievances.’

The team had a lucky mascot in the form of a red jumper. Ashish said: “The main thing going for us was a red jumper. That was fundamentally important to the team dynamic.”

Anser Aftab, currently studying for an MPhil in Politics at Emmanuel, added: “I'm glad a British team won Euros.”

Will Thong, the Cambridge Union Society Debating Officer said of the victory: “We're proud that Cambridge's crack team of debaters manages to sustain our world-class quality. Now we're hoping that, as Cambridge's most successful 'sports' team, we can at long last have some blues."

216 teams from over 46 countries competed in the competition. Cambridge beat teams from the University of Edinburgh, Oxford and Trinity College, Dublin Historical Society. The Cambridge B team of Lee Ja Wei and Kitty Parker-Brooks reached the semi-finals.