Jamshedpur: The camaraderie among the graduating cadets of Tata Football Academy (TFA) continued even as they bid goodbye to the premier cradle on Thursday.
The 12th convocation ceremony of TFA at Michael John Auditorium in Bistupur saw the 19-odd senior cadets share wafers, sandwiches and fruit cakes, while they playfully cracked jokes and reminisced their old days at the cradle.
"We know today is our last day but we will definitely remain in touch with each other. We had a such a lovely time at the cradle and learnt a lot," said 21-year-old Baset Hansda, a midfielder who hails from Sundarnagar on city outskirts.
The tribal midfielder, who walked home with the best gentleman cadet award, said he got attached to football by watching his sibling Raison in action.
"Football is my first love and I will work hard towards making my country proud," added Hansda, who also captained the Jamshepdur FC (Reserves) outfit in the second division of I-League earlier this year.
Another city boy Mobashir Rahman (20) said he had always aspired to get admitted in TFA. "I was too excited when I joined the cradle in 2014 but soon realised only hard work and dedication can take me forward" said the young mid-fielder.
Mobashir's father Shafique Rahman, a former defender, said it was a proud moment for a parent to see his son graduate from such a reputable cradle like TFA. "I want Mobashir to become a great footballer but more importantly a good human being," he added.
Homemaker mother Shabnam said she had always wanted to see Mobashir donning the TFA blazer. "It's like a dream come true," she said as her eyes welled up.
Besides Baset and Mobashir, other cadets of 2014-18 batch who graduated were Yendrembam Naresh Singh, Thiyam Shrivash Singh (both from Manipur) Billu Teli, Subham Ghosh, Swarup Das, Harsha Parui, Md. Firoz Khan, Rakesh Yadav, Vishal Das, Srinjoy Dutta, Rafique Ali Sardar (all from Bengal), Parveen, Vijay Kumar (both from Haryana), Karandeep Singh , Lara Sharma(both from Punjab), Ashish Pradhan (Sikkim) and Prakash Naik (Odisha).
Out of these boys, 16 will play for JFC (Reserves) in the second division of I-League starting September while goalkeeper Rafique Ali Sardar has been retained by JFC for the Indian Super League. Two cadets Lara Sharma and Ashish Pradhan have already been signed by ISL franchises ATK and Bengaluru FC.
The convocation ceremony was also graced by former cadet and Bengaluru FC star striker Udanta Singh.
Tata Steel CEO and MD T.V. Narendran handed over the certificates to the senior cadets in the presence of TFA board of management chairman Sunil Bhaskaran, Jharkhand Football Association president Nazm Ansari, JFC CEO Mukul Choudhari and Tata Steel sports wing chief Ravi Radha Krishnan.
Narendran, who was conferred the TFA Blue by Bhaskaran, called upon the boys to play the game the right way and also become respected ambassadors of TFA. "Sports is an important part of Tata Steel and our association with sports goes a long way. It was my love for sports that made me join Tata Steel in 1988," he added
According to Bhaskaran, 231 cadets has so far graduated from TFA after its inception in 1987 and 141 have played for the country . "Tata Trusts is also working on developing football in Northeast as most of the players hail from that region," he added.
