Pune boy, Nikhil Prabhune tops navy course

Pune boy, midshipman Nikhil Prabhune has topped the ‘sea cadet training’ course at the first training squadron of the Indian Navy at Kochi beating back 140 midshipmen.

Nikhil, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy’s (NDA) 120th course had been awarded the President’s gold medal in the NDA passing out parade of May 31 this year for being adjudged the best all-round cadet.

Nikhil, whose family resides in Lohegaon, told DNA on Friday that the naval course taught him the key subjects of navigation and seamanship. “We sailed extensively and it was an excellent opportunity to connect theory with practice. We had to study on board the ship and it is nice feeling to top the course,’’ Nikhil said. Nikhil who visited his juniors at the NDA on Friday said that he was looking forward to his midshipman training set to begin in Mumbai next month.

December 2011 has been a great month for NDA alumni as they beat back all opposition and topped all the three tri-services academies across the country.

In the most recent event held at the Air Force Academy in Dindigul on December 29, NDA alumnus, flying officer Varun Agarwal, was awarded the President’s plaque and chief of air staff ‘sword of honour’ for standing first in overall order of merit in the pilot’s course. Likewise, his NDA batchmates from the 119th course, flying officers Ayyush Kunal, Shashikant Bhutani and PK Singh stood second, third and best in navigation respectively.

Similarly, at the passing out parade of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun on December 10, gentleman cadet Karan Kothari was awarded the ‘sword of honour’ while Abhijeet Singh, Abhishek Chandra and Amit Bijalwan received gold ,silver and bronze medals for standing first ,second and third. All the cadets are alumni from NDA’s 119th course.

Commandant, NDA, Lt Gen Jatinder Singh complimented the NDA alumni for putting up an excellent show.