Indian Students At Astronomy Olympiad 2026 Win 4 Golds, 1 Silver; Finish Joint Third Among 64 Countries

Mumbai, October 6, 2026 - Indian students showcased their prowess at the 19th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2026 held in Hanoi, Vietnam. Pranjal Dixit from Hyderabad, Sumant Gupta from Delhi, Akshat Srivastava from Gurugram, and Arnav Sehrawat from Faridabad clinched gold medals, while Harshil Amitkumar Patel from Vadodara secured a silver medal.

The top three countries in the final medal tally were Iran, South Korea, and India, with India jointly placing third behind these two nations, each having won five gold medals. The five-member team participated alongside 307 students from 64 countries. Upon their return, the students expressed their enjoyment of the academic program and the chance to forge lasting bonds with fellow enthusiasts.

Sumant, a Class XII student prepping for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), has been a part of Olympiads for three years and aspires to delve into astrophysics and physics in his future studies. He attributed his newfound interest in astrophysics to a question about the surface brightness of galaxies in the theory test. Fellow participants Arnav and Harshil also harbored a keen interest in astrophysics and astronomy.

Similar to Sumant, they found questions related to data analysis of galaxies, black holes, and models predicting their evolution particularly intriguing. The team was guided by the expertise of Prof Bhaswati Mookerjea from TIFR and Prof Sanved Kolekar of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, alongside scientific observers Prof Abdul Rahoof K A from Sullamussalam Science College, Kerala, and Adarsh Reddy Madur from Virtu Financial, Singapore.