2 Pinoy students to join elite math competition in Canada

MANILA, Philippines — Two Filipino high school students have been invited to represent the Philippines in the elite 2009 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO) this March. Online news site The News Today reported that John Russel Virata of Gideon Academy and Earl Chua of Grace Christian College made the grade at the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge. "These two kids just like the other winners in several international competitions have been powered by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others," said Dr. Simon Chua, Mathematics Trainers' Guild-Philippines (MTG) president. He said the two were among the very few participants who scored between 71-74 in Group 3. The COMC is the qualifier round for CMO. Lim said their feat earned them an invitation to represent the country at the CMO on March 25, 2009. "The CMO provides students the opportunity to explore mathematics beyond the regular curriculum. The candidates become very knowledgeable and skilled at mathematics, and I congratulate the winners of this year's Canadian Mathematical Olympiad," said Edward Barbeau, University of Toronto official and chairman of the CMS Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee. Virata and Chua will compete with 90 student-competitors from across Canada, the report said. Since the mid-1990s, the MTG has trained over 3,000 students from all over the country. They won over 112,249 and 906 gold, silver and bronze medals in foreign competitions. MTG participates in about 10 foreign contests a year. - GMANews.TV