Bangladesh Team Felicitated After Historic Three Golds at Asia-Pacific AI Olympiad

Bangladesh's history-making team, which secured three gold medals at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Olympiad (APOAI) 2026, was felicitated on Saturday (July 4) at Daffodil International Academy in Panthapath, Dhaka. The event honored the gold medalists, coaches, mentors and other participants who received honorable mentions.

The felicitation ceremony was organized by the Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN) with support from Daffodil International Academy and the Department of Computing and Information Systems of Daffodil International University.

Competing against 129 contestants from 18 countries, including China, Russia, Singapore, Japan and Iran, Bangladesh won three of the competition's 10 gold medals—the highest number secured by any participating nation.

The gold medalists were Labib Shahriar of Homna Adarsha High School, Md. Saiduzzaman Araf of Moulvibazar Government College and Tridib Roy Arya of Notre Dame College. They finished 4th, 5th and 9th, respectively, in the overall international rankings.

Among the guests were Datasoft Systems President M. Monjur Mahmud, Million X Bangladesh founding member Anis Rahman, Chair of the Department of Computing and Information Systems at Daffodil International University Md. Sarowar Hossain Mollah and Biggan Chinta Executive Editor Abul Basar. Video messages were delivered by Microsoft AI Lead Sadid Hasan and Saudi Arabia-based AI Lead Dr. Ehsanul Haque.

Addressing the winners, M. Monjur Mahmud said, "Always dream big. Life is a great challenge. Adaptability will be the game changer of the future. Those who learn quickly and adapt with time will become tomorrow's leaders."

Anis Rahman said, "You are the future. Your performance has been truly remarkable. If you continue this journey, the future will remember your achievements."

Bangladesh team coach and Associate Professor at Daffodil International University, Dr. Md. Azam Khan, said, "Many mentors from home and abroad contributed to this achievement. Their dedication made this success possible, and I sincerely thank them all."

Sharing his experience, gold medalist Labib Shahriar said, "I faced several personal challenges during the competition, but representing Bangladesh was my highest priority. I am proud to have brought this achievement to my country."

Gold medalist Md. Saiduzzaman Araf said, "Bangladesh can, Bangladesh has, and Bangladesh will continue to succeed. Nothing is impossible if we remain committed. This achievement will inspire us to do even better in the future."

Tridib Roy Arya's mother said, "Our boys competed against participants from many countries and brought home this success. It is a matter of pride not only for our families but for the entire nation."

The organizers said the Bangladesh AI Olympiad began in April, followed by regional rounds in Dhaka, Chattogram and Rangpur in May. The national round was hosted by the Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT) on May 16, while the final selection camp was held at the Institute of Information Technology (IIT), University of Dhaka, from May 20 to 23.

On June 13, eight Bangladeshi students represented the country online from the University of Dhaka's IIT through video proctoring and screen recording. During the six-hour contest, they solved four machine learning problems using the Bohrium platform.

Like previous years, the Bangladesh AI Olympiad was organized by BDOSN. BUBT served as the Platinum Sponsor and National Round Host, while Reve Chat was the Powered-by Partner. Brain Station 23 was the Gold Sponsor, Million X Bangladesh and Creative IT were Silver Sponsors, and Bitnob was the Bronze Sponsor. The Institute of Information Technology (IIT), University of Dhaka, served as the Knowledge Partner. Kishore Alo and Biggan Chinta were Magazine Partners, Deepto TV was the TV Partner, while Bangladesh Science Popularization Society (SPSB), Rokomari.com and Jadu PC joined as supporting partners.

//DBTech/MM/IH//