The Indian team was selected from nearly 50 teenagers in the age group of 13-16 years who came from different parts of the country to participate in a training camp on mathematics held at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. The IMO team comprises Chetan Balwe, Soham Mazumdar, Abhinav Kumar, Hariharan Narayanan, Rishi Raj, and N V Tejaswi.

For nearly a month these students were coached in various aspects of mathematics by a faculty drawn from premier science institutions across the country. As one of the young maths enthusiasts said, "Being taught by people whose books you have only read till now is an awesome experience".

C S Yogananda, deputy leader of the team, said that only the best got chosen.Recounting an example, he said that two boys from Std X and Std XI each solved a particular problem using lesser number of steps and a much simpler method than the professors who had set the problem. ``But these boys are not part of the team. Both these boys, Mohit Singh and Abhishek Shah, are proud recipients of the Issar Hussain cash prize for the best solution,'' he added. Speaking at the concluding session, Prof. M S Raghunathan, Chairman of the National Board for Higher Mathematics, said that these talented youngsters had the unique ability to enjoy mathematics.

He encouraged them to use their knowledge of mathematics in their careers. The Board is sponsoring the Indian team's trip to the IMO.

The director of the camp, Arvind Kumar, said that though not many of these students specialise in mathematics, the training would definitely help them in their chosen fields. "Even if they become engineers or economists, they can use mathematics to improve the technology in that area," he added.

The boys seemto echo the thoughts of these senior mathematicians. Abhinav Kumar (Jamshedpur) said, "Mathematics is more than a hobby. It is a way of life. It is an entirely different way of thinking". Five of these boys have completed their Std XII examinations. Of these, four want to take up engineering as their careers. Balwe (Pune) is the only one who will be pursuing further studies in mathematics at the University of Michigan, USA.

On his team-mates he said, "Even if these guys do not continue with pure mathematics, they will keep in touch with the subject." For this, Mazumdar (Ranchi) explained, they will use the `contact programme', conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute. This programme enables them to continue their study of mathematics through postal tuitions.

Yogananda pointed out, "Once they are bitten by the maths bug, it is difficult to escape. There are cases of students who have returned to research and development in mathematics after completing their B.Tech."

There has been a curious lack offemale participants in maths training camps, which is worry for the organisers. The only girl who had been selected refused to participate for lack of female company. "We are waiting for the first girl in the team,'' said Yogananda. He added that last year at the IMO there was a girl in the team from Iran, but there were no girls in the team from America. While admitting that the trend was depressing, Arvind Kumar, director of the camp, said that socio-cultural factors were to be blamed. However he stressed that lack of ability was not the reason for the lack of participation.

For now an all boys team will represent the country at the IMO from July 10-21 and hope to fulfill Rishiraj's promise of bringing back a gold medal.