Back with glory: India wins 6 medals at junior science Olympiad in Iran

The Indian junior science Olympiad team returned to the city with six silver medals on Tuesday from the International Junior Science Olympiad in Tehran.

The Indian junior science Olympiad team returned to the city with six silver medals on Tuesday from the International Junior Science Olympiad in Tehran.

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The six-member team comprising students from Classes 9, 10 and 11 participated in the ninth edition of the Olympiad between December 1 and December 10 in Iran.

This year's performance has however seen a decline compared to 2010 when the team came back with three golds and three silvers and in 2011 with two golds and four silvers.

India has been fielding a junior Olympiad team since 2005.

"The performance was good," said Vijay Singh, professor at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education in Mankhurd and national coordinator for the science Olympiads.

"The girl student in the team performed exceptionally and was the topper among all the girls," he said.

This year 29 countries and 161 students participated in the competition in Tehran.

It involves two theory tests as well as a practical test. There is no overall country-wise medals tally.

The team was selected through a three-tier process consisting of a nation-wide exam which 23,000 students appeared for, followed by theory and practical tests.

The team comprised Bhavya Choudhary (from Kota), Charles Rajan (from Bhopal), Kushal Babel (from Udaipur) L Nikhil Kumar (from Hyderabad), Pratyush Rajput and Swati Gupta (both from Hyderabad).

Each of the students in competition won one silver medal.

"Charles has been a consistently good student and we are happy with what he has achieved," said Dr Nisha Rajan, his mother.

"He has always been fascinated by science," she added.