New Delhi: 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 14 to 21 August, 2022.

Details of the Individual performance are given below:

The team was accompanied by two leaders: Prof. Sarita Vig (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram), Prof. Ajit Mohan Srivastava (Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar).

They were also accompanied by Scientific Observers: Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) and Mr Tejas Shah (Fr. Agnel Multipurpose School & 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 6 guest teams participating in this year’s IOAA.

In addition, 24 students from 6 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.

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.