RIYADH: Twelve female and male students from the King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (MAWHIBA) program represented Saudi Arabia in the 2021 Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad hosted by Indonesia. 

Faris Ibrahim Bassiouni from the general education department of Yanbu competed against 845 students from 35 countries to bring home a bronze medal, the Kingdom’s first ever Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad medal. 

The Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad is a competition to test students' knowledge in interpretation and speed when solving programming tasks.

The Saudi competitors were chosen after excelling in a set of tests and training that extended over 4,000 hours in the MAWHIBA International Olympiad Program in informatics. 

The Kingdom previously won bronze medal in the International Olympiad in Informatics in 2019.