India has secured the third position by winning five medals at the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA)-2022 held in Kutaisi, Georgia, from 14-21 August 2022.
All the five students from the Indian contingent at IOAA-2022 won five medals, including three gold, and two silver. Raghav Goyal of Chandigarh, Mohd Akhtar of Kolkata, and Mehul Borad of Hyderabad are among the three winners who won gold for India. Whereas, Malay Kedia of Ghaziabad, and Atharv Nilesh Mahajan of Indore got silver medals.
In the medals tally, India was placed jointly in the third position along with Singapore, behind Iran's official team (5 golds) and guest team (4 golds, 1 silver). In all, 28 gold, 38 silver, and 55 bronze medals were awarded at this IOAA. Raghav Goyal won a special prize for the best solution to the most challenging theoretical question.
India has secured the third position by winning five medals at the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA)-2022 held in Kutaisi, Georgia, from 14-21 August 2022.
209 students from 37 main and 06 guest teams participated in this year's IOAA. In addition, 24 students from six countries participated in the online mode. This year's competition was originally scheduled to be held in Kyiv, Ukraine; it was shifted to Kutaisi, Georgia in March 2022 due to the war in Ukraine.
The Indian team was accompanied by Prof. Sarita Vig (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram), Prof. Ajit Mohan Srivastava (Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar), and two scientific observers, including Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) and Mr Tejas Shah (Fr. Agnel Multipurpose School & Jr. College, Navi Mumbai). Dr Tendulkar was a gold medalist at the International Astronomy Olympiad in 2002 and 2003.
Congratulating the winners, the statement released by Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (HBCSE), Mumbai, appreciated the efforts of the students as well as their mentors, teachers, and Astronomy Olympiad cell at HBCSE. HBCSE has also expressed gratitude to the National Steering Committee, all teacher organisations, and funding agencies of the Government of India for their continued strong support for the Olympiad programme.
Prof. Aniket Sule faculty at HBCSE has been elected President of the international body of IOAA for a five-year term during this year's event. For the last five years, Prof Sule has served as the General Secretary of IOAA.
India Science Wire
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