The Saudi students, who were trained by King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity “Mawhiba", and in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education, won 9 international awards and ranked 22nd out of 344 male and female students, representing 37 countries, during their participation in Asia Pacific Math Olympiad (APMO2021) exam, which was held Virtually (remotely) due to the Corona pandemic on March 9. Therefore, the Kingdom's achievements in international competitions and Olympiads are 424.
During its eleventh consecutive participation, the Kingdom won 3 bronze medals and 6 certificates of merit. The bronze medals granted to: Marwan Khayat, Hamza Al-Sheikhi, and Muhammad Al-Dubaisi, while the certificates of merit were granted to: Moath Al-Ghamdi, Khaled Al-Jabri, Abdul Rahman Nassif, Mahdi Al-Baik, Rafaa Qanash, and Hadi Al-Eithan.
The participants were selected among the members of the Saudi team, whose training began nearly 3 years ago by a group of distinguished national and international trainers and in a strategic partnership with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology “KAUST", the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu and Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University. 11 students were selected to take the competition tests, after conducting a set of arbitration - based tests.
The Kingdom was represented in the competition by a team that included: Mahdi Al-Baik, Muhammad Al-Dubaisi, Ahmed Al-Bahrani, Rafa Qanash, Hamza Al-Sheikhi, Moath Al-Ghamdi, Marwan Al-Khayyat, and Khaled Al-Jabri.The team also included, Abdul Rahman Nassif, Ali Al-Ramadan, and Hadi Al-Aithan.
The Kingdom ranked fifteenth in Asia Pacific Math Olympiad competition 2020 out of 38 participating countries. This is the best position in the series of the Kingdom's students annually participating in this competition, since their joining in it in 2011.
The Olympiad was launched in 1989. It aims at identifying the gifted, encouraging competitions among school students and gifted students, enhancing international relationships and cooperation among students and teachers, and creating opportunities for exchanging experiences and information about the curriculum.
The competition tests were held over two days. The first day for participating countries from North and South America, and the second day for participating countries from the Western Pacific and Asia.
It is noteworthy that this participation is a part of Mawhiba International Olympiad program, which is held in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education, which makes the students available to attend the training camps throughout the year. This program is also one of 20 different initiatives of advanced curricula and enrichment programs, in the fields of science, engineering and health, provided by Mawhiba for gifted students annually on a journey through which the gifted students pass through several stages, to explore and enhance their tendencies, and empower and invest in them with its local and international partners.
Since the Ministry of Education assigned Mawhiba to take over the international competitions, and supported its success and partnership 10 years ago, the strategic partnership between the two sides has resulted in winning 424 different international awards in qualitative scientific competitions, and 85 awards in the ISEF International Competition for the Kingdom.
