India achieved its best-ever performance at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from July 10-19, 2026, with all four team members winning gold medals. This marks India's first all-gold haul in the competition's history. The Indian team tied for first place in the country medals tally with China, Vietnam, and Individual Participants Group B (from Russia). The event featured 363 students from 93 countries, making it the largest International Chemistry Olympiad to date.
The gold medal winners were Debadatta Priyadarshi from Bhubaneshwar, Odisha; Harshit Singla from Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab; Kabeer Chillar from Delhi; and Sandeep Kuchi from Hyderabad, Telangana. The Indian delegation was supported by four jury members: Prof. Subhajit Bandyopadhyay as Head Mentor, Dr. Indrani Sen (HBCSE, Mumbai) as Mentor, and Dr. Anubendu Adhikary (IIT Kharagpur) and Dr. Jayasree Gopalakrishnan (NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai) as Scientific Observers.
The competition consisted of theoretical and experimental components. The theoretical exam included nine complex problems covering areas such as identifying compositions of solutions and stones, kinetics of oscillatory BZ reactions, creating porous framework materials (COFs), estimating uranium mass used in historical events, decoding chiral cardiolipin structures, working with novel carbon allotropes (cyclocarbons), nitrogen fixation processes, catalytic reduction of atmospheric CO2, and reactions of synthetic cyclodextrin analogues.
The experimental exam featured three problems: synthesis and analysis of a metal complex using unknown reagents, identifying 20 biochemical mixtures using enzyme mixtures through microscale tests, and identifying compositions of acid mixtures through pH-metric titrations with indicator analysis.
This was India's 27th appearance at the International Chemistry Olympiad. Historically, 32% of Indian participants have won gold medals, 51% silver, and 17% bronze. Over the last ten appearances, the percentages have improved to 43% gold and 53% silver medals. The Department of Atomic Energy acknowledged the support of the National Steering Committee on Science Olympiads, teacher organizations, and government funding agencies including DAE, DST, and MoE for the Olympiad program.