Hong Kong students have won two silver and three bronze medals in the fifth International Junior Science Olympiad in South Korea, which is the city's best achievement since joining the contest in 2006, a government press release said on Tuesday.

More than 250 secondary students from 45 countries and regions took part in the Olympiad at Gyeongnam of South Korea on December 7-16, according to a press release from the Information Services Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

The Hong Kong delegates were made up of the best performers from local science competition the Budding Scientists Award (2007- 2008). The Gifted Education Section of the Curriculum Development Institute commissioned the Chinese University's Faculty of Science to train the students from March to November.

The team will be invited to join a science research program organized by the faculty where they will conduct their own scientific research under the guidance of university academics, the press release said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)