New Delhi: India secured third place at the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) which was held in Georgia from August 14 to 21. Students from India won three gold medals and two silver medals. Over 200 participants from various countries participated in the event. Five of India’s students participated in the tournament. The event featured six six guest teams and 37 main teams.

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Every country sent its own team to the Olympics by paying a registration fee. There are other options for sending entrees by guest teams.

Singapore and India both finished third on the medal table, behind Iran’s guest team, the official runners-up. The official team of Iran won four gold medals and one silver. The west Asian country’s official team snatched first place at the competition, with five gold medals.

In the Olympiad, India won five gold medals and one silver. The medalists were: Mohammad Sahil Akhtar (Gold), Raghav Goyal (Gold), Mehul Borad (Gold), Atharva Nilesh Mahajan (Silver), and Malay Kedia (Silver).

Gold medalist Raghav Goyal was awarded a special prize after he secured the highest marks in a question, which was about the dynamics of satellites orbiting each other. It was regarded as the most challenging of the competition’s theoretical questions.

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The Indian team was mentored by two professors, Sarita Devi and Ashutosh Srivastava. they were also supported by two scientific observers, who were experts in their field and evaluated the answers. The other members of the team were also supported by Dr. Shriharsh Tendulkar, who was a gold medalist at the 2002 and 2003 International Astronomy Olympiads.

This year’s competition featured a wide range of theoretical topics from gravitational waves to galaxy clusters.