2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 20, 2026 10:16 AM IST
India secured four gold medals at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026, registering its best-ever performance at the competition. The Indian team finished joint first in the overall rankings alongside China, Vietnam and an individual participant from Russia at the Olympiad held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from July 10 to 19.
In a statement, the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), said that 363 students from 93 countries participated in this year’s Olympiad. It was India’s 27th appearance at the International Chemistry Olympiad and its best performance so far.
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The four Indian students who won gold medals are Debadatta Priyadarshi from Bhubaneswar, Odisha; Harshit Singhal from Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab; Kabeer Chhillar from Delhi; and Sandeep Kuchi from Hyderabad, Telangana.
Among the medal winners, Kabeer Chhillar had earlier secured All India Rank (AIR) 2 in JEE Advanced 2026 after scoring 329 out of 360 marks, just one mark behind the top rank. He had also scored a perfect 100 percentile in JEE Main 2026 and had represented India at the Chemistry Olympiad after the engineering entrance examinations.
The latest result comes days after another strong showing by the country at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) 2026, where the Indian team won five gold medals and finished among the top-performing nations.
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The Chemistry team was led by Head Mentor Prof Subhajit Bandyopadhyay of IISER Kolkata and Mentor Dr Indrani Das Sen of HBCSE. The delegation also included Scientific Observers Dr Anubendu Adhikary of IIT Kharagpur and Dr Jayasree Gopalakrishnan of NES Ratnam College, Mumbai.
HBCSE also acknowledged the support of the National Steering Committee on Science Olympiads, teacher organisations and resource persons associated with the Chemistry Olympiad Cell. The institute said the national Olympiad programme received funding support from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
