NEW DELHI—IT WAS KARYA safal hua, or “mission accomplished” in Hindi, for the 20-member Philippine team to the just-concluded 2009 Wizards at Mathematics International Competition (Wizmic) in India.

The young Filipino math wizards won a total of 25 medals in the Math contest for elementary students held in Lucknow, the capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about 516 kilometers southeast of the Indian capital.

The four gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals that the Filipino team won gave it a very respectable second-place finish in the seven-nation contest.

Indonesia topped the contest, winning the most gold, 8, and taking a total of 24 medals. Thailand came in third with 20, Bulgaria was fourth with 9, while host India was fifth with 33 medals, mostly bronze.

Zimbabwe and Nepal also took part in the contest, taking home six and five medals, respectively.

The Philippines’ individual gold medals were won by Adrian Reginald Sy of St. Jude Catholic School in Manila, Timothy James Tan from Trinity Christian School, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, and Nathaniel Ryan Ang of Xavier School in San Juan, Metro Manila.

The fourth gold was won by Philippines Team B, composed of Lara Andrea Montales from Colegio San Agustin in Makati, Andrew Lawrence Sy from St. Jude Catholic School, Tan and Ang.

The silver medalists were Trisha Nicole Aman of Naga Hope Christian School, Naga, Camarines Sur; James Daniel Cordon and Angelo Gabriel Llamas, Paref-Southridge, Muntinlupa; Wilford Jason Julio, Martin Lewis Koa and Keith Brian Yu of St. Jude Catholic School; and Leo Emmanuel Sombiro, Solomon Integrated School de Iloilo, Iloilo City.

Philippine Teams A, C, D and E took one silver medal each in the team competitions.

The bronze medalists were Mark Davidson Cua of Pangasinan Universal Institute, Dagupan City; Caisa Subia, San Beda College-Alabang, Muntinlupa; Emmanuel Joshua Peña of La Salle Greenhills, San Juan; Joseph Ma. Francis de Leon, Blessed Lights International Christian School, Naga; Zac Tyrone Bais, ABC Learning Center, Dumaguete City; Christian Jared Balayan of St. Mary’s College, Quezon City; Paul Carlo Salise, City Central School, Cagayan de Oro City; Shawn Gabriele Cabanes, Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Zamboanga City; Andrew Lawrence Sy, and Lara Andrea Montales.

The Math teams from South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Taiwan failed to show up during the one-day contest because of the “A(H1N1) (virus) scare,” according to a contest official.

Job well done

Ed Malaya, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs, commended the Filipino numbers aces for a job well done.

“You made your schools and country proud with your achievements. Your significant victory reaffirms that our young math wizards can rank among the very best,” Malaya said in a text message to the members of the Philippine math team.

The team was trained by the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Philippines (MTG), a nonprofit that aims to promote excellence in Math education in the Philippines.

Dr. Simon Chua, the MTG president and cofounder, led the delegation to the Lucknow event, which was hosted by City Montessori School (CMS), a Unicef awardee for peace education.

The Math competition is one of more than 20 international events hosted each year by the Lucknow-based CMS (student population, 37,000), which was founded in 1959 by educators Jagdish Gandhi and his wife, Dr. Bharti Gandhi.

In the 2007 Wizmic, the Philippine team won 22 medals.

According to Chua, the Wizmic “provides another opportunity for young Math wizards worldwide to gather and display their remarkable mathematical skills.”

Part of the Wizmic’s goal is to bring out the best from every participant, he said.

The competition also helps to promote world peace and unity, said Chua.

“This small circle of Math educators and young wizards are not just doing great things for the improvement of math education but also to understanding cultural diversity,” he said.

Chua invited the Wizmic participants to the Philippine International Math Competitions, scheduled for later this month in Iloilo City.

Some 22 countries have confirmed their participation in the contest, including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, Bhutan, Iran, South Africa, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cyprus, Romania and South Korea.