From http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=93256872&blogID=269175182

Destiny Takes the Prize

Yoloten Wins First Ever Mary Region-wide Debate Tournament 

Mary, Turkmenistan—It was once said that destiny will take us wherever we are meant to go in life, however not many have ever seen Destiny walk off with a trophy.

This past weekend on April 29th, the Mary American Corner played host to the first ever Mary Region-wide Debate Tournament.  The event, organized by Nastya Kuznesova, FLEX '05, and Peace Corps Volunteer, Chris Schirm, was the culmination of nearly two months of practice for the participating teams; two from Bayramali, one from Yoloten, two from GRES and two from Mary city participated in the event. 

At the outset of the tournament, after an introduction from Mary AC Regional Director Albina Burashnikova, each of the teams were asked to come up with names for their teams, little did anyone know that Yoloten's team name Destiny would be the most aptly named of the tournament.  Yoloten cruised to victory after winning the winners bracket and successfully defending their place against the winner of the loser's bracket, EBS, from the nearby town of GRES.

The judges for the competition consisted of American Corner Volunteers (Maya Babyeva), Peace Corps Volunteers (Isaac Scarborough, Carrie Schroeder, Jen House, and Jessica Ruhter), and FLEX alumni Serdar Mammadov. 

At the conclusion of the debate George Martsinkewich, Yoloten, and Olga Ibragimova, Mary, were awarded the top debaters of the tournament awards.  

As team Destiny filed out of the room, taking with them the trophy for the first ever annual debate tournament of Mary the other participants could only stare after in hopes that next year destiny would land in their favor and give them the trophy.