– Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)

Pune-based Shreya Shantanu Mundhada (16) has scripted a new chapter in Indian history by winning the country’s first gold medal at the 15th European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) 2026 staged at Bordeaux (France) between April 9-15. India’s four-member national team delivered a best-ever performance since India first signed up for EGMO in 2015, winning three medals to be ranked #6 of 67 participating countries.

Launched by the UK in 2012 and modelled on the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), EGMO “aims to inspire high school girl students to participate and win national and international math competitions, while fostering cultural exchange among teenagers worldwide”.

Raised on a farm in Konda-Deori in rural Madhya Pradesh, Shreya, the younger child of Shantanu Mundhada, a banker, and homemaker Rekha, is currently a class XII student of Pune’s Mahaveer Junior College. “My parents were particular that my brother and I receive good academic education. So they homeschooled us. Their teaching cleared all difficult concepts while encouraging us to think independently — an essential skill for Olympiad-level problem solving,” she recalls. In August 2024, the family relocated to Pune. The next year, she wrote the class X NIOS board exam.

Shreya’s Olympiad odyssey began at age 13 in December 2022, when she enrolled for a week-long online All Girls’ Mathematics Nurturing Camp conducted by Raising a Mathematician Foundation, a not-for-profit. A year later, she cleared the rigorous multi-stage selection process of the Olympiads conducted by Mumbai’s Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, India’s nodal institution for Olympiad selection and training.

Beyond personal achievement, Shreya is equally committed to giving back to the community. She is a student-director at the Online Math Club — a free-of-charge, student-led mentorship initiative that provides open access resources and training to Olympiad aspirants.  

Now a member of the national IMO team, Shreya is intensively training for the 67th International Mathematical Olympiad to be staged in Shanghai (China) in July. “Till date, only seven girls from India have participated in the IMO with no entries since 2017. I am determined to improve this record,” says this math whiz calmly.

Wind beneath your wings!