Mumbai: India has notched the top position at the VIII International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO) which concluded at Stockholm, Sweden on October 8 by winning four gold medals and two silver medals.

Out of the 24 teams from 22 countries, India got the first rank for the first time in the IAO, the team leader Dr Mayank Vahia of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) told reporters.

Russia got the second rank with two gold medals, Armenia came third with two gold medals while China stood fourth with one gold medal, Vahia said.

The Olympiad was held at the Stockholm observatory and Saltsjobadens Samskola.

Among the Indian students, Shriharsh Tendulkar (Mumbai) and Rohan Chabukswar (Pune) were in the senior group category, while Sumit Shekhar (Patna) and Asilata Bapat (Pune) of junior category won gold medals.

Radhika Marathe (Pune) in the senior category and Ashutosh Sahu (Bhubaneshwar) in the junior category won the silver medals at the IAO. Haripriya Mukundarajan participated in the event, Vahia said.

The Indian team was selected after an extensive nationwide tests conducted in almost 40 centres and the best 40 students were invited to participate in the National Camp conducted in Mumbai.

The Indian programme was funded jointly by the Department of Space (DoS) and Department of Atomic Energy and the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education of the TIFR is the authorised representative from India for the IAO.

PTI