India finishes third in international astronomy Olympiad with 5 medals

In the Olympiad held between August 14 to 21, a total of 209 students from 37 main and six guest teams participated

India finished third in the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) held in Kutaisi, Georgia, on Monday winning five medals in total—three gold and two silver.

India was placed jointly in the third position along with Singapore. (File image)

“In the medals tally, India was placed jointly in the third position along with Singapore, behind Iran’s official team (5 gold) and guest team (4 gold, 1 silver)… Raghav Goyal won a special prize for the best solution to the most challenging theoretical question,” said the Department of Atomic Energy.

The five winners were namely, Raghav Goyal from Chandigarh (gold), Md Sahil Akhtar from Kolkata (gold), Mehul Borad from Hyderabad (gold), Malay Kedia from Ghaziabad and Atharva Nilesh Mahajan from Indore won a silver medal each.

The Indian students were accompanied by Professor Sarita Vig of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram and Professor Ajit Mohan Srivastava of the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar along with two Scientific Observers, Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) and Tejas Shah (Fr Agnel Multipurpose School & Jr College, Navi Mumbai).

In the Olympiad held between August 14 to 21, a total of 209 students from 37 main and six guest teams participated, along with 24 students from six countries who participated in the online mode.