India secured four Gold medals and one Silver medal at the 19th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics held in Hanoi, Vietnam. The competition was held from September 25 to October 5, 2026. With four golds and one silver, India finished third in the medal tally along with host country Vietnam, right behind Iran and South Korea, who won five gold medals each.
The Gold medals were won by Pranjal Dixit of Hyderabad, Sumant Gupta of Delhi, Akshat Srivastava of Gurugram and Arnav Sehrawat of Faridabad. Harshil Amitkumar Patel of Vadodara won a silver medal.
Five students represented India at the International competition with Prof Bhaswati Mookerjea of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, and Prof Sanved Kolekar of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, accompanying the team as leaders.
The team received a 100 per cent podium finish, with every member winning a medal. The 19th edition of IOAA was the largest in the history of the competition, with 307 students participating from 64 countries. A total of 51 gold medals, 48 silver medals and 60 bronze medals were awarded to the winners.
Students were tested across major components such as theory, observation and data analysis. Theory accounted for 50 per cent of the score, while observation and data analysis contributed 25 per cent each.
The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics is an international academic competition conducted to test students' understanding of astronomy and astrophysics through theoretical and practical problem-solving.
The competition required participants to interpret astronomical observations and scientific data along with solving theoretical problems. This year's competition was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from September 25 to October 5, 2026 with participants from 64 countries.
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