A team of SMU final-year law students beat teams from Italy, Israel, Indonesia and Argentina but finally lost to the National Law School of India University on Saturday, emerging as runners-up at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Team captain Liu Zhao Xiang, 24, said that the team would not have done anything differently. "It was a remarkable journey. This was a spectacular team." Also on the team were Ms Chong Hui Ying, 23, Mr Kenneth Tan and Mr Shaun Pereira, both 24, and Mr Aleksandar Georgiev, 22. Reaching the final when it was the school's first crack at the international rounds was something to be proud of, said team coach and SMU Assistant Professor of Law Chen Siyuan, 30. He said that standards had become stiffer since he took part in Jessup as an NUS student in 2007. He stressed that healthy rivalry between SMU and NUS aside, the real goal was to keep Singapore "at the top in the international mooting stakes". "If both Singapore law schools continue to excel in international moots, people will know our law students are world-class, and in turn, our young lawyers are world-class. It all begins here," he added.