Nagendra Shetty (from left), Bhavya Choudhury and Charles Rajan were selected from over 2,500 students to represent the country.

Early on Sunday morning, before the flight carrying three young Indian students was to touch down at Mumbai airport, a voice boomed over the announcing system mid-air and all passengers on board gave a loud round of applause to cheer the three bright students who romped home victorious with gold medals at the International Astronomy Olympiad.

The announcement was about our achievement at the competition. Hearing all the passengers applaud in our honour, it felt very special, said Nagendra Reddy, one of the three students.

In Indias best performance at the Astronomy Olympiad over the past 15 years, all participants won gold medals for their performance. The 18th edition of the Olympiad was held at Vilnius, the Republic of Lithuania, between September 6 and 14.

The Olympiad for high school students emphasises the role of astronomy and scientific knowledge in educational process. It tested 20 teams from 18 countries in three exams on theory, observation and practical.

This is the best performance by any participating country, according to the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, which coordinated the event for India. Team India had three students and all of them won gold medals. No other country has been able to achieve 100 per cent results in the past, said director of Nehru Science Centre, Shivaprasad Khened.

Bhavya Choudhury from Dayanand Anglo Vedic Public School, Kota, Charles Rajan from Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal, and Nagendra Reddy from Narayana Olympiad School, Hyderabad, had been selected to represent India from over 2,500 students.

During the camp, I developed real interest in astronomy as I got to read plenty of books on the subject, said class 11 student, Bhavya Choudhury who plans to launch a career in astronomy.

Academicians are delighted at the achievement but say the true success would be if the event inspires students to take up the science seriously. Seeing these kids achieve on an international platform will inspire others to take interest in astronomy, said Saket Singh Kaurav, one of the two leaders from Team India.

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Trio triumphs at global astronomy Olympiad, romps home with gold