India Wins Four Gold Medals at International Chemistry Olympiad 2026

India made history at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026, clinched total four Gold medals and became the first country to have all its participants achieve this feat in the global chemical competition. This grand event was held in the Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from the 10th to the 19th of July 2026, in which a record 363 students from 93 countries took part. As every member of the Indian team won a Gold medal, India placed the first along side with countries like China, Vietnam, and the Individual Participants Group B (Russia) in the overall medal tally.

India’s Unique Gold Medal Winning Achievement

India has achieved the best result so far in the International Chemistry Olympiad, with four participants winning Gold medals each.

Gold Medal Winners List

Student	Medal	State/UT
Debadatta Priyadarshi	Gold	Odisha
Harshit Singla	Gold	Punjab
Kabeer Chillar	Gold	Delhi
Sandeep Kuchi	Gold	Telangana

This is the first time in history that a country has achieved all four Gold medals in the International Chemistry Olympiad.

About the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad

The International Chemistry Olympiad is one of the topmost competitions for secondary school students around the globe and assesses different theoretical knowledge in chemistry, as well as laboratory skills.

International Chemistry Olympiad 2026 Details

• The Host City is Tashkent in Uzbekistan.
• The dates are July 10th to 19th, 2026.
• The number of participating countries is 93, while the total number of participants is 363 students.
• India took part for the 27th time.
• The total number of medals won by India is four gold medals, ranking it on the first position with China, Vietnam and GroupB individual participants of Russia.

The 2026 edition is the largest International Chemistry Olympiad ever held, which shows that the world interest in chemistry has kept increasing.

Challenging Academic Assessment

The academic assessment was comprised of nine complicated chemistry problems that were informed by scientific research and interdisciplinary applications.

Topics addressed by students included,

• Chemistry of Plant Extracts
• Kinetics of oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction
• Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs)
• Uranium chemistry and its use in history
• Determining chiral cardiolipin structure
• Cyclocarbon nanostructures
• Nitrogen fixation using transition metals
• Carbon dioxide reduction with photosensitizers
• Cyclodextrin stereoisomerism and regioselective reactions

While the examination focused on exploring main concepts, memorization was not the central topic of it, instead, such skills like scientific reasoning, analytical thinking and problem solving skills were tested there.

India’s Olympiad Group and Advisors

The Indian team benefited from the guidance provided by specialists from the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education as well as the best educational institutions.

Board of Advisors

• Prof. Subhajit Bandyopadhyay – Chief Consultant
• Dr. Indrani Sen (HBCSE) – Consultant
• Dr. Anubendu Adhikary (IIT Kharagpur) – Scientific Observer
• Dr. Jayasree Gopalakrishnan (NES Ratnam College, Mumbai) – Scientific Observer

HBCSE organized series of rigorous orientation and pre-departure training camps that enabled students to tackle challenging international competition.