PTI
 
Mumbai, Nov 19: Five Indian boys, including two from Maharashtra, won gold medals to help the nation top the 19-country International Astronomy Olympiad that concluded in Mumbai on Saturday.

The gold in the junior category was bagged by Kedar Shriram Tatwawadi of Nasik while the four gold medals in the senior category were won by Mehul Jain (Udaipur), Chirag Jevekar (Mumbai), Udbhav Singh (Allahabad) and Raziman T V (Kozhikode).

The gold medals were presented to the winners by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar.

Mumbai's Adwaitvendant Satish Mathkar won a silver medal in the junior section while Soumyashant Nayak of Bhubaneswar claimed a bronze in the week-long event.

A total of 120 participants, including students, teachers and observers, were here for the 11th edition of IAO, which had two categories — junior (14-16 years) and senior (17-18 years). The Olympiad had three rounds — theoretical (solving problems in theoretical astronomy and astrophysics), practical (analysing local observatory data) and observational (sky watching).

The theoretical and practical rounds were held here while the world-class Giant Microwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune was the venue for the observational round.

The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the country's nodal centre for Olympiads in different subjects, was the organising institution for IAO.

Eight participants, including five from the senior category, represented India, which hosted the event for the first time.

Foreign students in the junior category who bagged gold medals were Astashov Artem Aleksandrovich (Russia), Bae Jang Ho (Korea), Elahesadat Naghib (Iran), Hye Soo Lee (Korea), Luka Milicevic (Serbia) and Natasa Dragovic (Serbia).

In the senior section, the students who bagged gold included Ignat Ganchev Kalinov (Bulgaria) and Kang Byung Woo (Korea).

All the results were announced by the chairman and co-ordinator of the Council of IAO, Michael Gavrilov of Russia.

Besides academic programmes, the event included cultural shows for participants, visits to historic places and scientific lectures at the GMRT and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, Nehru Centre and TIFR.