Bhubaneswar: Sarthak Behera has secured an all-India rank of 82 and emerged as the state topper in JEE (Advanced), results for which were declared on Sunday.

The exam is held for those seeking admission to IITs.

Prior to clearing the JEE (Advanced), Sarthak had scored 335 out of 360 and topped the state with a rank of 29 in JEE (Main).

Elated at his success, Sarthak said: "It is a dream come true. My parents and teachers have been very supportive in my journey."

Sarthak, who studied for around 12 hours a day, wants to study at IIT in Mumbai.

"I want to become a game designer in future," he said.

Sarthak's father Gopal Behera, who is deputy superintendent of police (special branch), told The Telegraph: "I am happy with my son's succes. For the last four years, he worked hard to clear the test. As a parent, we are with him. He was expecting a higher rank. However, we are happy with his performance."

Chirag Mahapatra has ranked 143 in the exam. He had bagged an all-India rank of 61 in JEE (Main).

While the exact number is not known, it is estimated that over 1,500 students from the state have cracked the JEE (Advanced) exam this year. A total of 11,279 seats were up for grabs this year.

Around 45,000 students from the state took JEE (Main) of which only about 2,700 students qualified for the advanced round last year.

In 2016, around 47,000 students took the test from the state and 3,700 qualified for the advanced round.

The number of students from Odisha who had qualified in JEE Mains in 2015 was 3,408. In 2014, too, around 3,202 students from Odisha had qualified for JEE Advanced.