Though the quest for gold for the Philippine team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics seems elusive, 49 Filipino elementary students returned home on Friday with a silver medal and 48 bronze medals from the China Primary Math Olympiad in Hubei, China.
Among the winners, Michael Brodeth from Colegio de San Agustin in Makati City notched second place in the competition held on Monday and Tuesday at the Yichang No. 20 Middle School in Yichang City of the province.
While 48 pupils from 40 schools around the country, each won a third-honor recognition fromt the tournament.
Earlier, Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines expressed hope that the efforts of the math whiz kids from different private and public schools in the Philippines would pay off.
The China Primary Math Olympiad was dubbed by the MTG as the second next difficult tournament after the International Math Olympiad.
"This tournament is known to be a very tough one and we have only managed to win one gold medal here since we started to send participants in 2003. Usually, we only win a few silver or a few bronze each year in previous years. But now we have 49 honors and all our representatives each won an honor for the country," Dr. Eduardo dela Cruz of MTG said.
Dr. Simon Chua, MTG Philippines president, said the consistent impressive performance highlighted the fact that Filipinos can excel in mathematics.
"We should promote this interest, this love for mathematics not just to win trophies and medals in international tournaments but to pave the way for students to go into engineering and science and technology courses. Our country needs engineers and scientists," Chua said. With a report from The Philippine Star