A city girl, Aakanksha Sarda, is the second girl who will represent India at the 41st International Physics Olympiad to be held at Zagreb, Croatia from July 17-25.
What makes Sarda’s selection significant is that she had almost failed in physics in her Std IX exam. “Now it is my favourite subject,” said 18-year-old Sarda.
Sarda had topped the Std X ICSE exams two years ago and now plans to join the MIT.
“We’ve got great expectations from Sarda. She is an outstanding student,” said professor Vijay Singh, national coordinator for science Olympiads.
Besides Sarda, the team includes Mehul Kumar (Jaipur), Sanchar Sharma (Jodhpur), Shivam Handa (Delhi) and Vipul Singh (Bhilai).
The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) is the nodal centre for training and selection of Indian teams for various Olympiads. It has been selecting students for the physics Olympiad since 1998.
“My preparation for IIT-JEE helped me. Also, several topics for the physics Olympiad are similar to those in the CBSE curriculum for Std XI, XII. A strong hold over the basics is a must,” said Mehul Kumar.
About 36,000 students had registered in the first level examination conducted by Indian Association of Physics Teachers. From this, 312 were selected for the the Indian National Physics Olympiad examination. Out of this, 36 students were selected to participate in the orientation-cum-selection camp at HBCSE from May 4-17. The final names were announced on Monday.
“They will undergo a pre-departure training of 15-20 days. This year, too, we should be in the top five,” said Singh.
