Desi math wizards win big on international turf

A six-member Indian student squad has achieved its best-ever performance at the International Mathematics Olympiad

In a remarkable feat overseas, a six-member Indian student squad has achieved its best-ever performance at the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) last Sunday. Held in Bath, UK, the competition saw the Indian team secure fourth position globally, hauling four gold medals, a silver medal, and an honourable mention.

The squad consisted of students from Classes X to XII from across the country. Kanav Talwar (Class X), Adhitya Mangudy (Class XI), Ananda Bhaduri (Class XII), and Rushil Mathur (Class XII) bagged gold medals, while Arjun Gupta (Class XII) won the silver medal. Siddharth Choppara (Class XII) clinched an honourable mention at the mathletics.

Professor Krishnan Sivasubramanian of IIT Bombay, who served as the team's leader, said, "The team had been preparing for a while and had really worked hard. These kids are sharp. They put their all into winning this Olympiad and they got better with time. This year, preparation was different from the previous years. The paper was quite tough, too. But I have observed that the harder the paper is, the better the chances of winning it," he remarked.

Sivasubramanian said the fixed syllabus and the Olympiad's set pattern gave participants a defined roadmap for their preparation. But there is more to competition than just individual preparations. "This year, the team's cohesion also contributed significantly to their success. The students can't talk to each other while writing the Olympiad, but the friendships they build outside help with their overall stress levels. They would talk and play games like puzzles and poker after math practice, which helped them gel well. This was not the case with every team; for example, the Finland team was quite individualistic," added Professor Sivasubramanian.

One of the winners, Ananda Bhaduri from Guwahati, shared his experience at the Olympiad, saying, "Going to a new country was amazing. It was nice to experience a different culture. We enjoyed it even more as a team, visiting places around the campus after the Olympiad."

Bhaduri said he had started his preparations five years ago and noted that the effort paid off immensely. On the preparations leading up to the Olympiad, he added, "The training camp in Mumbai a fortnight before the Olympiad was demanding but helpful. During training, we solved about 30 problems per day, which may sound like less but the problems are quite difficult." On occasion, solving the problems would take as long as nine hours, he said.

The number of problems solved and time take entirely depends on the complexity of the question, said Mumbai-based PhD scholar Rijul Saini, who also accompanied the students as their deputy leader. "The questions are so difficult that sometimes students solve only a couple of problems per day. In the Olympiad, you get three problems and 4.5 hours. These are not just any regular math problems; it's not about quickness, but the level up to which one can think," Saini explained. He mentioned that the students had a sense of their strong performance after they wrote the paper.

"Of course, when the results were announced, they were absolutely thrilled. Their hard work had paid off," says Saini.

Saini, who had won a silver medal at the Olympiad in 2012, reflected on the experience, saying, "It was memorable working with the team as everyone worked together to win. We spent a lot of time together solving problems, and on the day of the papers, the students were relaxed and confident. They went in with a smile and came out with one, too."

Prithvijit Dey of the Homi Bhabha Science Centre has been training students for the IMO for a decade, but Professor Sivasubramanian credits the entire ecosystem involved, including former Olympiad winners who gave pep talks and guidance to the students.

For future contestants, Bhaduri advises challenging oneself, thinking deeply about problems, asking questions for better understanding, and most importantly, having patience.

Kanav Talwar, a Class X student from Delhi NCR, manages to balance his schoolwork with Olympiad preparation. "I was inspired by my sister, who had also participated in the Olympiad a few years ago, so I started my preparations in Class IV and V. Homework is a bit of a pain when you have to prepare simultaneously, but I can manage that," he said. The proudest moment for him was holding the Indian flag on stage.

The mathletes will step out of school soon and into the "real world", but some have already decided on their future paths. Unlike many Olympiad winners who pursue professional courses like BTech, Talwar aspires to an academic career in mathematics. Saini notes that only about 10 per cent of Olympiad winners go on to pursue academic careers in mathematics, largely due to societal pressure to secure a job, but also because "writing a thesis is not everyone's ballgame".