India Wins Gold in International Physics Olympiad

The topper of the 2014 IIT JEE (Advanced) has made India and Indian physics proud by winning a gold in the International Physics Olympiad at Astana in Kazakhastan. Chitraang Murdia of Udaipur, who has taken admission to IIT-Bombay in Computer Science and plans to pursue research after his BTech is also one of the only student in the country to clear the entrance test for four Olympiads – astronomy, chemistry, mathematics and physics. Aniket Bahpai of Thane, Maharashtra has also won an individual gold medal for impressive performance, taking India’s tally to two golds and three silver medals. The final position earned by India will be announced on July 22.

In an interview to TOI from Astana, Chitraang expressed his pride in being able to represent India at a global level.  He said that competition was very tough, because the Physics Olympiad meant competing with the best minds in Physics.  He also expressed his satisfaction that the Indian education system was on par with international educational systems.

The IPO saw 374 participants from 84 countries, out of which 30 students were awarded gold medals on the basis of their overall performance.  The Indian team comprised of Chitraang Murdia (Udaipur), Bure Vidya Naidu (AP), Aniket Bajpai (Thane), Rupanshu Ganvir (Nagpur) and Gurkirat Singh Bajwa (Punjab). These five students were selected after a three-stage selection process.  The first was a national-level elimination test for which 42,000 students appeared.  After the initial test, a series of practical and theoretical test decided the final five team members. The team was sponsored by the Union Ministry for HRD to participate in the largest Physics Olympiad in the world.