Five Indian students selected for Intl Physics Olympiad

Sumegha Garg from Bathinda in Punjab is the third girl to be representing India at IPhO in the last 14 years of participation, National Science Olympiad Coordinator Dr Vijay Singh told PTI.

Prudhvi Tej (16), hailing from Dwaraka Tirumala, a rural locality of coastal Andhra Pradesh is the youngest among the five students selected today by the National Physics Olympiad here, he said.

The other three bright students comprise Burle Sai Kiran from Hyderabad, Nisheeth Lahoti from Jaipur, Rajasthan and Shubham Mehtra from Kota, Rajasthan. All of them were felicitated by the Director, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism Prof Mita Rajaram in Mumbai.

The team will be accompanied by two leaders---Prof Charudatt Kadolkar, College of Engineering, Pune and Dr M K Raghavendra, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The scientific observer, Praveen Pathak is from Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Mumbai.

Indian teams in the past have done extremely well bagging several gold and silver medals and also bronze medals, Singh said. "We are optimistic that the current team will continue this glorious tradition," he said.

Singh said the IPhO is a unique event designed to discover, to encourage and challenge exceptionally gifted young students from all over the world.  

The event represents a "celebration" of the best in higher secondary school physics and over 80 countries are expected to participate this year.

IPhO was initiated in 1967 and India started participating in it since 1998. The HBCSE has been a nodal centre for training and selecting students for the Physics Olympiad since 1998.

HBCSE collaborates with the Indian Association of Physics Teacher (IAPT) for implementing the programme. The Science Olympiad Programmes are funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Science and Technology and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The preparations for selecting the team began in November, 2010. About 38,000 students from across the nation participated in the first level examination conducted by IAPT.

In the second level examinations, the National Physics Olympiad (INPhO) ---308 students were selected. The examination was conducted in 16 centres across the nation and 38 students were selected to participate in an intensive training camp, namely, the orientation cum selection camp for Physics Olympiad at HBCSE from May 11-23.