First Indian Girl Wins Gold At International Physics Olympiad

Aakanksha Sarda, an 18-year-old girl from the city, set a precedent lately when she won a gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad held in Croatia. She is the first Indian girl to attain this feat. Moreover, Aakanksha also stood initial among the girls at the olympiad.

Five students each from 82 countries took part in this olympiad and overall, India stood sixth.

"The first girl to stand for India at the olympiad in 2006 had managed to bag a bronze. Aakanksha has become the first Indian girl to win the gold medal," said Vijay Singh, national co-ordinator of science olympiads. He further told that Aakanksha stood 12th among the 376 students who had taken part at the olympiad. Rest of ther members of the team won three silver medals and one bronze medal.

Aakanksha's ecstatic family in the city is now waiting for the team's coming on Tuesday morning. "It is amazing that she has reached this far bearing in mind that she once hated Physics in school. However, she loved Mathematics, and grew interested in the subject again. Soon, she was one of the five students representing India at this important event," said Zarana Sarda, Aakanksha's mother.

"She has made the nation proud. I am happy to know that a girl has proved herself, as this is a field typically dominated by boys. She topped at the national level, too," said Praveen Tyagi, managing director of IITians PACE, the classes where Aakanksha was groomed for the olympiad. Aakanksha, who also applied for IIT, had stood 18th in the country and would have effortlessly got a seat at any IIT. But, she will now head to the US to pursue a degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"These students were selected from 40,000 applicants who had appeared for the first round of examinations. After series of tests and training programmes, five were chosen to represent the country at this event," added Singh.