When Ramadhan brings us Luck

We have never expected that we will go that far. We have never expected that with so little time to prepare we would be able to get a place in the quarter-finals. Well, maybe it was just me. I did not expect that I will have to moot in the quarter-finals. Honestly, I did not put so much hope for the break-ins.

BUT

ALHAMDULILLAH! Luck was on our side.

Hello everybody,

Its been a long time since I last wrote a post. Kept on forgetting and there was so much to do during the semester.

For your information, my team and I went to Hong Kong exactly one week ago for a competition called International ADR Mooting Competition.

From left: Ellena, me, Hannah and Bam

Amongst participated teams were from the USA, Australia, India, China, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria and Hong Kong. We were the only Malaysian team participated in the competition and it was our first time participating in this kind of mooting format which includes both mediation and arbitration. 

Day 1

The Claimant had to go for the first round against Shanghai team, respondent. It was a little rough, as what they said, but I thought it was a pretty good round. It was just nerve, I guess, cause it has been a long time since they last mooted. But, all in all they were awesome and the judges loved them. 

Day 2

Its my round now. All I have to say is that I was so freaking nervous before the round because the last time I mooted was exactly one year ago which was in Law Asia moot. I did not participate in the IHL nor other moots so I was a little bit rusty. I had troubles during the training and I was scared to go for my first round but managed to keep everything to the down low and I managed my tension. 

The round went pretty well, I can say. Of course, Hannah was great, as usual, but I was a little bit shaky. All in all, it was alright. 

Day 3

Its time for the Claimant's second round. Both looked more confident compared to the first day. Both were awesome in the round. Judges loved them. 

Day 4

Its the Respondent's second round. My mood was a little off this day and I did not perform well. I admit, I did not do good in this round. I was so shaky. I was scared. I did not sound confident and I was out of my focus-zone. 

But, thank god. The judges still liked our performance. and...the most epic thing happened during this round where Hannah snatched my pen which I was holding when I was speaking cause I was playing with its cap. It was the most epic moment ever! The judges saw it and they complimented saying that that was a good teamwork. I laughed and tried to hide my face. It was good though.

After our round passed, we had to wait for the announcement for break-ins into the quarter-finals. I, personally did not expect anything especially when I thought about my performance during the rounds. I honestly thought that we had no chance advancing to the next round cause of my stupid mistakes. 

BUT

Our team name was called!!! We're in the QUARTER-FINALS! All of us were speechless. All the other teams were cheering, screaming, crying when they found out that they made it to the next round but our team....we did not say a single word to each other nor did we react to one another. We were stunned and speechless.

The most epic moment during the competition. The time when we found out we were in Quarter-Finals

After 30 seconds we finally come to our senses and started cheering and hugging and reacting to one another. We were surprised by the whole thing. QUARTER-Finals babeyh!

After the announcement, we had to choose whether to go as Respondent or  Claimant for the next round. We did win the coin-tossed and we chose to go with the Respondent. Meaning, I have to moot in the quarters.

Back home, Hannah and I managed to rewrite our points and brainstormed for new points and etc.

Day 5

Its QUARTER-FINALS day.

All I can say is that my performance was better than my second round but worse than my first round. I tried my best to answer all the questions but I stumbled along the way. It was a hard round for me but it was worth the fight. At least, that is what I think.

We did not manage to get into the semi finals but we knew and we know that we already did our best and luck was just not on our side for the semis. We were happy for where we were at the point. We did not even cry and none of us were really really upset. Its a lie if I were to say that we were not disappointed. Who won't be disappointed when they lost? That's crazy. We did feel upset and disappointed but we are matured enough to take the whole experience as a learning process and we did not get over-reacted.

Day 6

Went shopping the whole day before the final dinner at night

Dinner time

We were all dressed-up for the dinner and one by one categories were announced.

Our achievements:

Hannah Nasir, our anchor, won 5th Best Oralist in the General round

Our team, team 008 won 4th Best Team in the General Round!! 

WE ARE NUMBER 4 out of 20 teams!

Are you freaking serious?

I am still trying to absorb these facts till now.

Just imagine, if there was no need for quarter-finals, we would have been in the semi-finals by now! How cool is that?

Alhamdulillah. with all our hardwork, we got something in return. We are so thankful for whatever we have achieved in this competition.

We hope that we make everyone proud. 

with Professor George Barmann from Columbia Law School

I, personally, would like to thank everyone including the Coaches, Miss Ummi and Sir Irwin for helping us with all the trainings and points. Not to forget, thank you too to Mdm. Mazlina for handling our paperwork and budgets.

To my seniors, Fikie and Zharif for being there giving us the support we needed

and lastly,

to my beloved team mates, thank you for everything and love you guys so much!