BHUBANESWAR/BALANGIR/ROURKELA: Samarth Agarwal of Rourkela topped the JEE (Advanced) in eastern zone by securing an all India rank 25 in the examination the results of which were announced on Monday.The 18-year-old youth who scored 313 marks, topped the eastern zone of IIT-Kharagpur comprising Odisha, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
Samarth, after completing his Class X from the Delhi Public School (DPS) in Rourkela, moved to Kota in Rajasthan for coaching. He, however, returned home after the outbreak of coronavirus and opted for self study. “I used to study for seven to eight hours in a day,” said Samarth who is happy with the results.
Attributing his success to smart study and support from his parents, Sanjay and Kamna Agarwal, Samarth aspires to take admission to IIT-Delhi or Mumbai. However, he is yet to decide on the branch of engineering he wants to pursue.
Apart from Samarth, Rounak Dalmia from Kantabanji block in Balangir district secured 52nd rank in the examination and bagged the second top spot in the State. Rounak, son of a businessman, secured fourth position among top 5 candidates in IIT Kharagpur zone. His cousin Manthan Dalmia secured 100th rank.
Rounak said both of them have completed their schooling from Balangir. “We had gone to Kota in Rajasthan for coaching immediately after our schooling. However, we returned in January and took help of our teachers for our preparations at home online”, he said.
Meanwhile, Sibasish Rout from SAI International School in Bhubaneswar, who secured 73rd rank with 287 marks, bagged third place in the State.