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A team of eight Hong Kong secondary students scored three golds, four silvers and one bronze in the recent China Western Mathematical Olympiad 2006 (CWMO). The team also seized the Champion Cup, setting a record for Hong Kong in the competition.
The students' performance surpassed the excellent results of one gold, five silvers and two bronzes last year. Being the only gold medallist scoring full marks in the competition, Wong Chiu-wai, was named the Best Contestant.
Held in Yingtan, Jiangxi from November 2 to 7, CWMO 2006 was hosted by the China Mathematical Society Olympiad Committee, related education bodies and secondary schools. Participating in the Olympiad were 88 mathematically talented secondary students from 22 teams.
In addition to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hainan and Kazakhstan were specially invited to join the western provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions including provinces and cities such as Ningxia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guangxi, Heibei, Shanxi and Jiangxi to take part in the competition.
CWMO aims to promote mathematics education, advancing basic science education, enhancing students' mastery and appreciation of mathematics and training talented students. It also serves to step up the interflow of mathematics education among the western provinces as well as with other regions.
As well as joining other contestants in visiting cultural relics and historical sites in Yingtan, the Hong Kong team members also actively engaged themselves in the sharing activities, through which they found themselves better acquainted with their motherland, and their sense of national identity, communication and inter-personal skills were also strengthened.
The team members are student members of the Support Measures for the Exceptionally Gifted Students Scheme of the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB). The scheme provides structured enhancement programmes in mathematics and other learning areas to help students develop their potential to the fullest.
This year, the Hong Kong team was led by Dr Lau Chi-hin, one of the trainers of the mathematics training programmes as well as a member of the International Mathematical Olympiad Hong Kong Committee. The deputy leader was Mr Yip Wing-tong, the Curriculum Development Officer of the EMB's Mathematics Section.
The results of the Hong Kong team are as follows:
Gold medal Wong Chiu-wai S5 St. Joseph's College
Chung On-yip S6 Queen Elizabeth School
Yuen Chi-ho S5 Diocesan Boys' School
Silver medal Fong Pok-wai S6 S.K.H. Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School
Yuen Chak-he S7 Queen's College
Lam Cho-ho S5 Shun Tak Fraternal Association Lee Shau Kee College
Li Cheuk-ting S5 La Salle College
Bronze medal Chung Ping-ngai S3 La Salle College
Details of the event are available on the website of the Support Measures for the Exceptionally Gifted Students Scheme (http://gifted.hkedcity.net).
Ends/Thursday, November 9, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:20
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