Students Ivan Chan Kai Chin, Yeoh Zi Song, Hanissa Shamsuddin, Tan Li Xuan, Sean Ghee Zhing and Theam Wing Chun led the country to 37th position in this year’s IMO.

They took home an impressive haul of two silver medals, two bronze medals, and two honourable mentions, reported The Star.

Thanks to the team’s efforts, Malaysia jumped 20 spots up from a ranking of 57 in 2015.

The IMO is a prestigious maths competition for secondary school students, with over 500 students taking part from over 100 countries.

The competition is organised by the Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, which is a research institute and graduate school under the Brazilian science, technology and innovation ministry.

Since its inception in 1959, the competition has provided a stimulus for mathematics, spurring creative exchange of ideas among students from various cultures.

This marks the 23rd year that Malaysia is participating in the competition.

ExxonMobil, which has been funding the Malaysian delegation since 2010, contributed RM120,000 under its Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) support initiative.