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A team of eight secondary school students has achieved Hong Kong's best showing ever at the China Western Mathematical Olympiad 2003 (CWMO) in Urumqi, Xinjiang, winning three silver medals and three bronze medals.
Last year, the Hong Kong team earned two silvers and two bronzes in the competition.
The Mathematical Olympiad, held from September 25 to 30, was hosted by the China Mathematical Society Olympiad Committee (CMSOC), the Education Bureau of Urumqi and the Xinjiang Mathematical Society and co-organised by the Urumqi Pedagogical Research Centre.
A total of 88 mathematically gifted secondary students from 22 teams took part.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hainan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines received special invitations to participate in the competition. The other competitors were from western provinces and municipalities - Xinjiang, Urumqi, Xizang, Guizhou, Neimenggu, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Yinchuan, Shanxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu and Lanzhou.
The Mathematical Olympiad is one of the major components of the CMSOC's effort to aid the development of mathematics in the western regions. It aims to promote mathematics education, advance basic science education, enhance students' mastery and appreciation of mathematics, and devise training for gifted students.
It also serves to maintain an exchange of ideas among mathematics educators in the western provinces and other territories.
After the competition, all delegations visited different high schools in Urumqi. The Hong Kong team members took an active part in the dialogue and sharing sessions with students from Urumqi and other centres.
These activities allowed them to become better acquainted with their motherland and to strenghten their sense of national identity and their communication and inter-personal skills.
At the closing ceremony, a compliment scroll, prepared by Academician Wang Yuan, President of the CMSOC, was presented to the Hong Kong delegation in recognition of the Hong Kong SAR Government's contribution to the promotion of mathematics education and its support for gifted students.
Members of the Hong Kong team were selected under the Support Measures for Exceptionally Gifted Students Scheme established by the Education and Manpower Bureau in late 2000. Under the scheme, structured enhancement programmes in mathematics and other learning areas were organised to help students develop their potential to the fullest.
This year's Hong Kong medalists were:
Silver
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Lam Ho-yin, Theodore S7 South Tuen Mun Government
Secondary School
Siu Ho-chung S5 Queen's College
Poon Ming-fung S6 SFTA Leung Kau Kui College
Bronze
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Leung Tsz-kin S4 St Paul's College
Wong Weng-tong S6 St Joseph's College
Wong Hon-yin S5 Queen's College
More information on the competition, including pictures and mathematical problems, can be seen on the website of the Support Measures for the Exceptionally Gifted Students Scheme at http://gifted.hkedcity.net/.
End/Tuesday, October 7, 2003
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