August 15, Kathmandu.
Siddhant Chaturvedi won Nepal’s first bronze medal at the 3rd International AI Olympiad held in Kazakhstan. With all four team members receiving honors, Nepal has achieved a historic success on the international stage.
Nepal has won its first-ever historic bronze medal at the International Artificial Intelligence Olympiad (IOAI) 2026. In the third edition of the IOAI, held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from August 2 to 8, all four participating Nepali student team members received titles and honors, bringing glory to the nation.
Achievement of the Nepali Team
All four Nepali students studying at St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar, Kathmandu, performed excellently in the competition:
Siddhant Chaturvedi: Bronze Medal (First historic medal for Nepal in AI Olympiad)
Prasiddha Mainali: Honourable Mention (Honourable Mention)
Pitambar Lamichhane: Honourable Mention (Honourable Mention)
Ayush Yadav: Honourable Mention (Honourable Mention)
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Competition and Key Statistics
| Description | Fact / Statistic |
| Competition | 3rd International Artificial Intelligence Olympiad (IOAI 2026) |
| Venue and Date | Astana, Kazakhstan (August 2–8, 2026) |
| Number of Participants | 462 competitors from 103 nations |
| Organizer | Competitive Programming Federation of Kazakhstan |
| Competition Format | Two rigorous 6-hour machine learning phases using Python and Jupyter Notebook |
Selection and Preparation
These students were selected through the National AI Olympiad (NAION) conducted by the ‘Himalayan Computational, Linguistic, and AI Olympiad’ (HLON) in Nepal.
Technical Training: A team led by Rajesh M. Shikrakar, an expert from Fusemachines, provided special training to the participants on machine learning foundations and model training.
Team Leadership: Team Leader Ayush Adhikari, Program Coordinator Pranshu Joshi, and HLON Co-founder Chandan Gupta, as an observer, represented the team.
Future Roadmap
According to HLON co-founders Dr. Balkrishna Bal and Chandan Gupta, this success will provide great inspiration to promote AI and programming learning from the school level to prepare skilled AI manpower in Nepal. Future cycles of competitions will be organized more extensively and intensively under the management of the BRAIN Foundation.
For more: Nepal Wins First-Ever Medal
