The Philippine math wizards have proven anew their number prowess when they made a laudable finish, placing our country second in the overall ranking in the just concluded, 4th International Young Mathematicians' Convention (IYMC) sponsored by the City Montessori School (CMS) in Gomti, Nagar, Lucknow, India on December 2-5, 2010.

The Philippines sent 6 teams of 3-member each to compete in these five contest activities namely: Math Fair Exhibit, Relay Contest, Individual Written Contest, Team Activity Contest and the Math Quiz.

The numerical ability of our Filipino math whiz kids overpowered that of their foreign counterparts which should have made our country land 1st place in the overall ranking if and only if our teams joined the Math Fair Exhibit. Nevertheless, the Philippine teams were placed SECOND in the overall ranking of which our teams' total score was higher by 5 points than that of the Korean teams which ended up 1st place in the overall ranking.

Furthermore, the IYMC organizer declared 4 teams as champions for the relay contest which was taken charge by Prof. Mark Saul of US Education Development Center. The recognition had been shared among the Korean team, Thailand team and 2 Philippine Teams C and E. Mr. Barry O’Brien, well-known TV host of India’s Jeopardy, handled the Math Quiz, where Philippine Team D received Second Runner Up Trophy.

More often than not, two of the thrilling activities in the IYMC were the individual and team contests handled by Prof. Wen-Hsien Sun and Dr. Simon Chua. As for the Individual contest- Junior Division where each of the 198 contestants must solve eight problems independently in 60 minutes, two of our mathletes managed to obtain a perfect score. Thus, Kate Andrea C. Bonamy (Phil Team E) of Grace Christian College and Mario Juvenal S. Onglao III (Phil Team B) of Xavier School-Greenhills were awarded gold medals. The other gold medalists were Fiona Margarita S. Aytona (Phil Team C) of St. Paul College-Pasig, Brian James T. Masalunga (Phil Team A) of Naga Hope Christian School and Emmanuel Jerome L. Tagaro (Phil Team A) of UP Rural High School- Laguna.

These were eight of our math wizards who grasped the silver medals for their commended performance.

Legend: IFT- International Friendship Team

These are the following members of the Philippine teams who won the bronze medals:

This year's 4th IYMC was participated in by 14 countries namely: Bhutan, England, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Nepal, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Philippines.

Dr. Simon Chua, MTG President and head of the Philippine delegation had been so proud of our Filipino Math wizards for this achievement. Dr. Chua said, "This is the last competition that the Philippines has to participate in for this year 2010. Though last, yet our kids with their much-admired performance had managed to make all of us proud as Filipinos and as a nation."

Congratulations Kids!!! The Philippines is proud of you!!!