Sri Lanka Wins Three Bronze Medals at the International Chemistry Olympiad 2021 hosted by Japan
Nadun Naveendra Rajapaksha(Dharmaraja College, Kandy), Kelambi Arachchige Achira Hansindu(Mahinda College, Galle), and Manujaya Praveen Wijesinghe (Royal College, Colombo) won bronze medals at the 53rd International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) competition 2021. Dinithi Shalika Madhubhashini (Southlands College, Galle) also won an honorable mention at IChO 2021. Chemistry Olympiad Sri Lanka committee congratulates the winners of IChO 2021 for bringing glory to the country.
IChO is a competition organised for the secondary school students of all levels from all over the globe with the objective of promoting their creativity and cognitive skills in solving chemistry-related problems. This year’s competition was hosted by Japan from 25th July to 2nd August and the theory examination was conducted as a remote examination on 28th July 2021. A total of 312 highly talented high school students from 79 countries participated in the IChO 2021. In Sri Lanka, the remote theory examination was conducted at the Headquarters of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, Rajagiriya. The Institute of Chemistry Ceylon (IChemC) is the official organiser of the National Chemistry Olympiad competition in Sri Lanka which is named as “Chemistry Olympiad Sri Lanka” (COSL).
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country preliminary round of the COSL was not held in the year 2021. Hence, applications were called from students with three A passes (3As) for the G.C.E (A/L) 2020 examination, for this year’s final round. Accordingly, the COSL committee selected 26 applicants for the final round. Several online training workshops were conducted by the COSL committee members on advanced areas that will be tested at the competition. The four best performers of the national competition held on 30th May 2021 were selected to the team that represented Sri Lanka in the IChO 2021.
The team was trained by the Professors and Senior Lecturers from National Universities and the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon. Dr. Chinthaka Ratnaweera (Senior Lecturer, University of Ruhuna) and Dr. Ireshika De Silva (Senior Lecturer, University of Colombo) were the mentors of the Sri Lankan team. This is indeed a remarkable achievement by the Sri Lankan team as Sri Lanka participated in the IChO for the second time in history. In 2020 also the Sri Lankan team won three bronze medals and one honourable mentioned at IChO 2020 hosted by Turkey. Applications are being called for the preliminary round of the COSL 2022 to select the best team for the IChO 2022 hosted by China. Those who are interested in participating the national competition can visit the COSL website through the https://www.web.ichemc.edu.lk/ cosl/ for more details.
Dr. Ireshika De Silva
Chairperson Chemistry
Olympiad Sri Lanka
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