This year, students from 107 countries participated in the Olympiad. Team Bangladesh won three bronze medals and two honourable mentions. The bronze medalists are Tahmid Hameem Chowdhury and Adnan Sadik from Notre Dame College and Md Maruf Hasan Rubab from Ananda Mohan College. Nujhat Ahmed Disha from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, and Tahjib Hossain Khan from Ananda Mohan College bagged the honourable mentions. The results were published on IMO's official website, and was followed by a virtual closing ceremony.

The selection process for team Bangladesh consisted of several steps which were all conducted online. Around 50,000 students participated in the preliminary selection round and the top performers made it to the regional round. The shortlisted students further competed in the national round and the winners were trained during an online national camp. "At the end of the camp, several other exams were taken before the final team selection test and a team of six contestants attended the IMO," Rubab explained.

Nujhat Ahmed Disha

Depending on the country, one or several exam centres were selected and approved by the central IMO committee and a neutral commissioner was appointed at each center. "Our team members gave the exam at four different exam centres. Throughout the exam, the central committee observed the participants via LIVE recording and after each of the two exams, our solution papers were scanned and sent to the central committee," he added. The coordination and markings were also done through an online platform. Furthermore, participants also got the opportunity to interact with foreign participants, play fun games and attend online excursions.

Tahjib Hossain Khan. Photos: Courtesy

The team is satisfied with their performance, given that the questions were tougher than usual. They also expressed their gratitude towards the Bangladesh Mathematical Olympiad Committee for organising the entire event. "Due to being far from each other, we lacked some team spirit but still managed to cheer and support each other," Tahmid shared.

The upcoming edition of IMO is scheduled to be conducted next year at Oslo.

The author is a freelance journalist who likes reading, planning, and scribbling. Email: mislammonamee@gmail.com.