HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese students have won six medals at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO) which was hosted by the Republic of Korea on May 7-8. The Ministry of Education and Training said on Monday that out of the 15 Vietnamese students participating in the competition, six students had won a total of one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

The students are 11th and 12th graders from gifted schools in Hà Nội, HCM City and Vĩnh Phúc and Thừa Thiên-Huế provinces. The gold medal was won by Phan Đức Nhật Minh, an 11th grader from the High School for Gifted Students under the Hà Nội University of Science, who scored 226 out of 300 marks in the contest.

He is among 14 contestants from six countries who were awarded gold medals this year.

Lê Quang Tuấn, an 11th grader from the High School for Gifted Students under the Hà Nội University of Education, and Trần Tấn Phát, a 12th grader from the High School for Gifted Students under the HCM City National University, bagged the silver medals.

Việt Nam was ranked fifth out of 30 nations after Japan, China, Iran, and the Republic of Korea. The APIO is an online contest for the Asian and Western Pacific regions. The tasks are similar to those in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) and focus on the design of efficient and correct algorithms. Students compete on the contest website specific to their own country or area.

This year’s competition drew 169 students from 30 countries and territories, of which 84 students took home medals.

The competition was first organised by the Australian IOI team in 2007. — VNS