HKUST-trained Form 6 Students Score Unprecedented Good Results at International Physics Olympiad in Mexico

2009-07-22

Five Form 6 students trained by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have scored the best results ever for Hong Kong at the 40th International Physics Olympiad in Mexico from 12 to 19 July 2009, netting one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

These students are participants in the “Support Measures for the Exceptionally Gifted Students Scheme” of the Education Bureau, and have won awards at last year’s Hong Kong Physics Olympiad. On completion of a one-year training program provided by HKUST’s Physics Department and having gone through a series of challenges, they were selected to take part in this international competition.

This year’s International Physics Olympiad attracted over 70 competing teams from different countries and regions, with each team comprising five members.

Prof Tai-Kai Ng, HKUST Associate Dean of Science and Head of the Physics Department, was very pleased with the students’ performance this year. He said that as Mexico was one of the countries affected by swine flu, the Hong Kong team had to overcome numerous hurdles before they could make the trip there, and this made the achievement all the more remarkable. He said that the Science School hoped to develop even more promising secondary school students, and this year, there will be another several dozen secondary school students taking HKUST’s one-year training program in preparation for next year’s International Physics Olympiad.

List of Winners from Hong Kong in the International Physics Olympiad 2009

Name	Award	School
Yu Lik Hang	Gold	SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School
Poon Ting Fung, Jeffrey	Silver	Sing Yin Secondary School
Lam Kin	Silver	Sing Yin Secondary School
Lee Tak Yan	Bronze	SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School
Yeung Wing Ki	Bronze	STFA Leung Kau Kui College