More than 28,000 candidates hailing from Odisha managed to crack the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-UG (NEET-UG), results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on June 13, Tuesday, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.

Last year, 20,654 candidates from Odisha had qualified the medical entrance test last year. 

The Odisha state topper is Swayam Shakti Tripathy who is a student of SAI International School. He has managed to score 99.999 percentile and holds the All-India Rank 8 in this All-India test among the top 20 male rank holders. 

The student expressed gratitude towards his parents and mentors. he shared how he would follow coaching books and study for 12 to 13 hours a day. "I wish to pursue MBBS from AIIMS New Delhi. After MBBS, I will plan to do PG in surgery," he told The New Indian Express.

Another student from SAI International School, Surya Pratap Mishra bagged All-India Rank 35 with a percentile of 99.996. Abhipsa Chowdhury, also from SAI International School, featured in the top 20 female toppers list, has an All-India Rank 63 and scored 99.996 percentile.

A differently-abled female candidate, Gitikrishna Swain, bagged rank 9 and top 10 among the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) and two male differently-abled candidates Rudra Narayan Sahoo and Tilak Agrawal bagged rank 4 and 5, respectively, among top 10 PwBD male toppers.