Patiala lad Afrid Afroz tops NDA, conferred with President’s medal

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 1

Patiala lad Afrid Afroz (21) on Tuesday emerged as the topper in his batch that passed out of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune. He was also declared the best Air Force cadet and won the President’s medal for standing first overall.

Afroz studied till Class VII at a Patiala school while his father was a faculty member at the Punjabi University. It was then that he learnt about the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun, and decided to take admission there as it helped students prepare for the NDA entrance exam.

Expressing joy at his son’s achievement, his father, Mohammad Habib, said, “Afroz managed to get into the RIMC when he was only in Class VIII. After three years of training and hard work, he has topped his batch.”

He added that Afroz is well on his way to becoming a fighter pilot. Afroz said he wanted to get into the Indian Air Force Academy, Hyderabad, and has achieved the same. “I started preparing for it from an early age."

Attributing his success to his parents, Afroz, the youngest among four siblings, said, "My parents have been my biggest support and they always inspired me to follow my dreams."

“We all are proud of his achievement. After year-long training, he will be conferred with a degree of BTech in electronic engineering from the Jawaharlal Nehru University.”