Two city students impress at Mathematics Olympiad in Germany
Times of India: Two city students, Gaurav Patil and Sameer Wagh steered India to an impressive 28th rank at the 50th International Mathematics Olympiad held in Germany recently. The duo, in their maiden opportunity won a bronze and silver medal respectively as India jumped four ranks ahead from 31st last year.
The six-member Indian team won three silvers and two bronze medals in total. Gaurav said, “This was my maiden international Olympiad and was a great experience. Not only did it expose us to international level competition but also gave us an opportunity to interact with participants from other countries. We could exchange ideas and know how was their way of studying and how different it is from India.”
Gaurav, a student of Modern College of arts, science and commerce developed interest in Math when he joined the city-based Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan when he was just eight years old. “Their way of teaching mathematics is completely different. Geometry is taught in a completely different fashion and that developed a different view to the subject. After that I just fell in love with mathematics and started competing in Olympiads.”
A total of 104 countries participated in the competition that was held between July 10 and 22 in Bremen in Germany. S A Katre from the University of Pune’s Mathematics department accompanied the team as an observer.
Katre said, “Taking into consideration last year’s performance of India, we have done well. This year, more teams participated and yet we managed to improve our rank. Although, there was a time when we stood within the top 10 and have been slipping in terms of overall rankings.”
Sameer, a class XII student of Garware college, said, “I was expecting a gold, but had to settle for a silver. However, I have another opportunity next year and will give my best. Prior to the Olympiad, I started preparing keeping two aspects in mindfirstly, solve as many problems as possible and secondly presentation. At international level, the latter plays an important role and I gave special attention to it.”
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Both Gaurav and Sameer have done well, but mention may be made of the 10th standard student Akashnil Dutta from Kolkata who was also exceptional, as he has one more shot, we can expect greater things from him.
Expecting 2 golds next year,from Akashnil and Sameer