Kolkata, May 20 (IANS): Three students from the states of Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have been selected to represent India in the International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO) in Bulgaria later this year, the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) announced on Friday.

The three students are Mulinti Shaik Wajid from Sri Chaitanya IPL Olympiad School, Hyderabad, Harshit Khandelwal from Bhavan's Prominent International School, Indore, and Prashant Abhijit Gokhale from R.N. Podar School, Mumbai.

"They have been selected to represent India at XXI International Astronomy Olympiad to be held in Plovdiv-Pamporovo (Bulgaria) during October 5 to 13, 2016," said a NCSM statement.

The three students were introduced at the orientation-cum-selection camp for IAO this week.

NCSM director general A.S. Manekar said: "Last year Indian students have won three silver medals at the International Astronomy Olympiad held at Kazan (Russia). This year, I hope the selected students will give their best and get the gold medal for India. NCSM has been involved in selecting and mentoring students for this programme."