By Jerry E. Esplanada

ELEVEN more medals were brought home by young Filipino math wizards from three international mathematics competitions held in China.

In the 19th China West Mathematics Invitational (CWMI), held August 11 to 16 in Zunyi City, Guizhou province, the Philippine team bagged four medals: a gold, two silvers and a bronze.

Dr. Simon Chua, co-founder and COO of the Mathematics Trainers' Guild Phils. (MTG), which coached the team, named the medalists as: Immanuel Josiah Balete, Grade 11 student of St. Stephens's High School in Manila (gold); William Joshua King from the University of San Carlos and Charles Justin Shi from Philippine Cultural College-Caloocan (both silver); and Fedrick Lance Lim from Zamboanga Chong Hua High Schoolin Zamboanga City (bronze).

Aside from the Philippines and several Chinese provinces, other CWMI participating team came from Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, another Filipino team garnered two silver and two bronze medals in the 18th China Girls Math Olympiad (CGMO), held August 10 to 15 in Wuhan City, Hubei province.

The country's silver medalists were Vanessa Julio from St. Jude Catholic School and Gwyneth Margaux Tangog from Southville International School and Colleges.

The bronze meal winners were Deanne Gabrielle Algenio from Makati Science High School and Hiraya Marcos from Philippine Cultural College-Main.

Three more bronze medals were plucked in the 16th China Southeast Math Olympiad (CSMO), held July 28 to August 2 in Ji'an City, Jiangxu province by the following students: Stephen James Ty from Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, Issam Wang from Manila Science High School and Charles Justin Shi from Philippine Cultural College-Caloocan.

The Philippine teams were led by Renard Eric Chua (CWMI), Winsdy Marcos (CGMO) and Kerish Villegas (CSMO).

All three contests were "Math Olympiad in nature, where participants were asked to solve four different problems within four hours," according to MTG.