The winning Indian team with their mentors at the International Physics Olympiad in Columbia
India put up a stand-out performance at the 56th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2026, held in Colombia from July 5 to July 12, with five Indian students clinching Gold medals. In the country-wise medals tally, India was placed at the first position, jointly with China, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan.
This is the second time that India has won five gold medals at the IPhO, the other occasion being in 2018.
This was India’s 27th appearance at the IPhO. In all these years, nearly 44 per cent of Indian students have won gold medals, another 41 per cent silver, 10 per cent bronze, and 5 per cent honourable mentions, representatives of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, the anchor institution for the Indian team, said. In the last ten years, all Indian students at IPhO have won either gold (62 per cent) or silver (38 per cent) medals.
The special prize for overall winner went to a South Korean student; the award for best in the experimental component went to a student from Iran. In all, 51 gold, 80 silver, and 97 bronze medals were awarded. A total of 381 students from 85 countries participated in the competition.
The 5-hour theoretical competition featured three problems based on diverse topics like the thermodynamics of paramagnetic cooling, photoionisation of ozone, and dynamics of electron-positron pairs, among others.
As per information from HBCSE, all the Indian students excelled in the theoretical examination, some reaching close to perfect scores. “The experimental competition, also of 5 hours, challenged students to explore several phenomena related to thermodynamic processes in fluids and heat transfer. The Indian students also performed remarkably well in the experimental component,” HBCSE representatives said.
The students underwent orientation and pre-departure camps at HBCSE.
Prof. Anwesh Mazumdar of HBCSE – TIFR, who accompanied the team to the event, told businessline that across both theory and experiment round, the team displayed “exceptional diligence” leaving little scope to deduct marks.
“According to the data that we have, 64 per cent of Olympiad medallists have chosen an academic career (defined by pursuing a PhD, in any subject)., and 32 per cent of medallists, academic or not, have settled in India,” he added, speaking about the career path of physics Olympians.
The team comprised Kanishk Jain from Pune, Riddhesh Anant Bendale from Indore, Rishit Garg from Dwarka, New Delhi, Shresth Suraiya from Mumbai, and Svarit Joshi from Ahmedabad, who all won gold. Prof. Anwesh Mazumdar of HBCSE – TIFR, Mumbai, Dr Leena Joshi of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and two Scientific Observers Prof. Ananda Dasgupta of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, and Nisha Kelkar of Gogate-Joglekar College, Ratnagiri accompanied the Indian team contingent.
Published on July 12, 2026
