I am proud and grateful to be able to represent Malaysia in the 39th International Physics Olympiad(IPhO) 2008 held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 20th of July 2008 to 29th of the same month.
Of course such a chance to represent the country, we must have gone through vigorous training, so on 18-21 February 2008; 49 Six Formers students in Physics are invited from High Schools all over Malaysia to participate in the 1st Training Camp at UKM. While we are being cramped with 1st year Physics, we are expected to take a selection test at the last day! The Malaysian Institute of Physics decided to allow interested students to stay on in UKM to concentrate in Physics Trainings. I was the only one who took up this offer and I stayed on in UKM from 18th of February to 25th of April to continue my training.
After the 3rd training camp, on 21-25 April 2008, the final 5 were selected and I was one of them. The other 4 are Muhd. Khairul Azri b. Zulkipli from Mara, Selangor, Saw Siong Keat from Chung Ling High School in Penang and from Klang High School, classmates Phan Chow Fu and Kee Wee Siong. We went for two more training camps and then on to Vietnam after arriving at UKM on the 17th July. We flew to there on the 20th and checked into our hotels.
On the 22nd we had our theoretical exam for 5 hours followed by the Experimental Exam on the 24th. On the 28th we attended the Closing Ceremony of the IPhO 2008. Phan Chow Fu was awarded Honourable Mention and I was awarded Silver Medal. Of the 380+ contestants from 82 countries, I had come up no.73 with 27.9 /50 marks. We came back on the 30th of July, staying one more day to enjoy Vietnam.
After reaching the airport, I was interviewed by reporters from sinchew. We took a group photo, including our Professors who trained us very hard. I would like to express gratitude towards Mr. Wee who trained me and recommend me, Mr. Tan, a retired but good Physics Teacher, Professor Roslan who taught me Quantum Mechanics, Dr. Geri, who Lead us in the IPhO Vietnam, Pn. Chin for making the trips from Penang to KL just to teach us some more Physics, and Mr Chia who coordinated with Mr Fadzil, making our trip free for us. I am grateful for being able to make history in Malaysia by scoring the first Silver Medal in IPhO. It’s an improvement from what I got last year of which I, still a student in Malacca High School, got Honourable Mention in IPhO. This is a great experience which I will treasure for life. And I hope the future generations of young Malaysians can keep on improving the Physics Standards of our country.
P/S: This article will most probably come out in the School Magazine in 2009, so practically no one will have known me personally. I am a six former in Malacca High School, Alpha Class for 2006-07, perhaps those from St. Francis Institution might have seen me before, I was in class of 5H 2005.
Written by,
Ng Xin Zhao
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