India has won one gold medal, three bronze medals and an honourable mention at the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) 2026 in Romania. The competition brings together school students from more than 40 countries. Unlike traditional Olympiads, it does not require students to have studied linguistics beforehand. Instead, participants are given problems based on unfamiliar languages and have to find patterns using logic and reasoning.
According to IIIT Hyderabad, Shrilakshmi Venkatraman won the gold medal. Aarav Anil Rao, Nishanth Shankar Lakshmanan and Advay Misra won bronze medals. Soham Amit Pednekar received an honourable mention.
How were India’s students selected?
India has been participating in the International Linguistics Olympiad since 2009. The team is selected through the Panini Linguistics Olympiad (PLO), which serves as the national selection competition.
For the 2026 selection, 525 students registered for the first round, while 338 appeared for the qualifying test held in February.
Those who cleared the next stage attended a 10-day residential camp at IIIT Hyderabad from May 31 to June 10. The camp included lectures, mentoring sessions, problem-solving exercises, mock Olympiads and tests.
The final team was selected based on the students’ performance in the second-round test. The selected students then underwent further training before travelling to Romania.
What do students learn from the Olympiad?
The problems at the competition focus on logical thinking, pattern recognition and analytical skills. Students may have to work out the structure or grammar of a language they have never seen before.
IIIT Hyderabad has been mentoring the Panini Linguistics Olympiad since 2015. The skills students develop through the programme can also be useful in areas such as artificial intelligence, natural language processing and language technology.
India has so far won 37 medals at the International Linguistics Olympiad, according to the Panini Linguistics Olympiad. This includes six gold, nine silver and 22 bronze medals.
