In the medals tally India was placed jointly in the third position along with Singapore, behind Iran’s official team (five golds) and guest team (four golds, one silver).
Mumbai: In a major achievement, India secured the third rank in medal tally at the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA). India held the third position jointly with Singapore with students winning three gold and two silver medals. The 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2022 held in Kutaisi, Georgia, from August 14 to 21.
The Indian team was accompanied by two leaders who are professor Sarita Vig (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram), professor Ajit Mohan Srivastava (Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar) and two Scientific Observers who are Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) and Tejas Shah (Fr Agnel Multipurpose School and Jr College, Navi Mumbai). Dr Tendulkar was himself a gold medallist at the International Astronomy Olympiad in 2002 and 2003 (overall topper in the latter). There were 209 students from 37 main and six guest teams participating 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 this year due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
In the medals tally, India was placed jointly in the third position along with Singapore, behind Iran’s official team (five golds) and guest team (four golds, one 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.
