Historic Win: Nepal Claims First-Ever Medal at International AI Olympiad

Nepal has achieved a historic milestone at the third International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) held in Astana, Kazakhstan, winning its first-ever medal in the global competition. The event, held from August 2 to 8, 2026, saw Siddhant Chaturvedi, a student of St. Xavier’s College in Maitighar, Kathmandu, secure a bronze medal for Nepal. Three other members of the Nepali team—Prasiddha Mainali, Pitambar Lamichhane, and Ayush Yadav—received Honourable Mentions, with all four team members earning recognition at the competition. Organized by the Competitive Programming Federation of Kazakhstan, this year’s IOAI was the largest edition so far, featuring 471 participants from 108 countries. The contestants competed in two six-hour rounds held on August 4 and 6, using Python and Jupyter Notebook to solve complex machine-learning problems prepared by an international scientific committee. Medals were awarded based on the combined scores from both rounds. Nepal had previously participated in the 2024 edition in Burgas, Bulgaria, and the 2025 edition in Beijing, China, but had not won a medal in either competition.