Tata Football Academy inducts 12th batch of cadets

Jamshedpur's Tata Football Academy, one of India's premier youth football development centres, has inducted 16 new boys into their Academy as their 12th batch of cadets at a function last week. The fresh cadets will undergo basic and advanced training in TFA over the next four years and pass out in 2016 as professional football players.

The new batch consists of 16 boys from eight states from across the country from the East, North East, North and South. The coaches separately selected three boys for including them in the senior batch so as to augment the batch's strength.

The newly selected boys are Aibanbha Kupar Dohling, L. Jonathan Ginthianlal, O. Romtan Singh, Ramandeep Kumar, Thiyam Chingkheinganba, Vijay Kumar, Asil K., Hitesh Sharma, Khaikhogen Kipgen, Konsham Chinglensana Singh, M. Rahul Raj, Seiminlum Kipgen, Sourav Das, Arjun, Abdul Bilal and Shashi Prasad Keshri.

The three senior boys selected for the older batch are Sandeep Alhan, Longjam Lamyamba Meitei and Rajak Nag.

The cadets were selected after a rigorous selection process, which included testing at three different levels. The candidates had to successfully go through trials and multiple talent search camps from December 2011 to April 2012.

During the selections, the TFA coaches evaluated more than 1,000 youngsters from across the country. The final selection from amongst 60 boys was conducted by the Sheffield United FC coaches in Jamshedpur in the first week of April.

While the following players are being released as the 10th batch from the Tata Football Academy after four years of training: Bilal Khan, Chingkhel Meetei Yumnam, Mohammed Irfan Khan, Ravinder Singh, S. Balmachu, Karan Sawhney, Mustafa Ali, Amit Kumar, Simranjeet Singh, Satish Patel, S.Siam Hanghal, Pranoy Haldar, Jayabrata Dhar, Randhan Meetei Yumnam, Pankaj Kumar Sona, Alwyn George