VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia’s senior high school Olympic team won one gold and five silver medals at the 59th International Mathematical Olympiad held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

"This is the highest achievement we have ever made. Thanks to the team that has fought to boost Indonesia’s reputation in the world-level math event, which is one of the prestigious and respected event," Head of Sub-directorate of school students, Directorate of Senior High School Development, Suharlan, said in a press statement received by Antara News Agency in Jakarta on Monday.

The achievement brought Indonesia to the 10th world rank out of 106 countries involved in the competition. Based on data from the official IMO website, for the past 30 years of participation so far, Indonesia has totally collected two gold medals, 22 silver medals, 44 bronze medals, and 30 Honorable Mention titles.

Indonesia’s achievement surpassed those of other countries, such as Australia (ranked 11th), Britain (ranked 12th), Japan (13th), Canada (16th), and Italy (17th) at the competition from July 4 to 14.

The gold medal for Indonesia was won by Gian Cordana Sanjaya (SMAK Petra 1, Surabaya), with a total score of 31. The silver medals were contributed by Alfian Edgar Tjandra (SMA Kharisma Bangsa), Kinantan Arya Bagaspati (SMA Taruna Nusantara), Farras Mohammad Hibban Faddila (SMA Kharisma Bangsa), Valentino Dante (SMAK 2 Petra, Surabaya), and Otto Alexander Sutianto (SMAK Penabur, Gading Serpong, Tangerang).

Alfian, Kinantan, and Farras each scored 29, while Valentino scored 28 and Otto scored 25.

The 10th best title achievement was the best ever made by Indonesia in the history of its participation in the IMO so far.

"This is the second gold medal won after the first one, which was collected in 2013 at the 54th IMO in Colombia, when Indonesia won the first gold medal and was ranked in the 19th position," Suharlan revealed.

The coordinator of Indonesia`s IMO team, Dr Aleams Barra, said the students had been asked to solve six problems, with three problems per day, in 4.5 hours. The problems were original and have never been done by any student before.

"It requires quick decision making, coolness, and creativity," he added.

The director of SMA (senior high school) development, Purwadi Sutanto, noted that the achievement was for the entire country.

"With high spirit and motivation, we believed we could bring home medals" he told them before departure.

Gold medalist Gian noted that their opponents were tough, but he was confident from the start that he would win a gold medal, after he won a silver medal in Brazil last year.

"America, China, Russia, Japan, Korea, and Britain are among the strongest countries," he pointed out. (ANTARA)