Vietnamese students win five gold medals at Asia Pacific math contest

Vietnam sent eight students to the final round of the 2019 Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (APMOPS) and five of them won gold, the education ministry announced.

The Vietnamese team returned to Hanoi Tuesday.

Nguyen Dang Dung and Nguyen Anh Minh from Hanoi, and Tran Trung Phuc from Hai Phong were among the top 10 performers at the competition.

The APMOPS is an annual mathematics competition using English language for students aged 11-12. It is organized by Singapore's Hwa Chong Institution. Initially launched in 1990 as the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad for Primary School, the competition has been renamed and expanded to include students from 13 countries and territories in Asia-Pacific region since 2001.

The first round of the competition attracted more than 6,000 contestants and only 300 of them were shortlisted for the final round held in Singapore on June 1. The organizers awarded 40 gold medals to as many contestants with the highest scores, and the top 10 contestants were honored with cash prizes. No silver or bronze medals were awarded.

Vietnam has been participating in the APMOPS since 2009 and has consistently been among the top four countries in recent years. Last year the Vietnamese team was ranked second with six gold medals and one student in the top 10. In 2017, the team came in third with four gold medals and one student in the top 10.