Kolkata: Churchill Brothers forward Balwant Singh and Bengaluru FC coach Ashley Westwood were adjudged the Best Indian Player and Best Coach respectively in the sixth edition of Football Players` Association of India Awards.
The FPAI also felicitated Olympian PK Banerjee with the Lifetime Achievement Award and former Mohun Bagan forward Jose Barreto with a special award in a glittering Awards Night here.
Balwant, who topped the Indian goal scorers list with 16 goals (12 in I-League, four in Federation Cup and two in the AFC Cup), was adjudged Best Indian Player, while Englishman Westwood was picked the Best Coach for guiding Bengaluru FC to I-League title in their first season.
Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, now a co-owner of a franchise in the upcoming ISL football league, handed the Best Indian Player award to Balwant.
"FPAI is a nice initiative, something that has never happened in cricket... It`s also good to see FPAI getting the backing of AIFF after seeing vice-president Subrata Dutta here. We never had this in cricket," Ganguly said.
However, he went on to add that the bottom line was to take the game forward, be it by FPAI or some other body.
Simon Colosimo, Dempo`s Australian defender and president of Australia`s Players Association received Westwood`s award as the BFC contingent could not make it to the awards night because of their official felicitation back home.
Salgaocar`s Scottish recruit Darryl Duffy, who topped the I-League goal scorer`s list jointly with Sunil Chhetri on 14 goals each, was adjudged the Best Foreign Player.
It was a memorable day for Dempo`s attacking midfielder Alwyn George who won the Young Player Award for second time in a row.
Shillong Lajong`s prolific midfielder Boithang Haokip, who helped the Northeastern side to a best ever sixth place finish in the I-League this season with six goals, garnered maximum votes to be adjudged Fans` Player.
Urging Indians to take an oath to produce a world class player, West Bengal governor M K Narayanan said: "There have been greats like Pele, Diego Maradona and in the present day we have Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo among others.
"However, we don`t have any Indian at that level. Every Indian should take an oath to produce one world class footballer," the governor said in his address.
The Awardees
Coach: Ahsley Westwood (Bengaluru FC), Young Player: Alwyn George (Dempo SC), Foreign Player: Darryl Duffy (Salgaocar SC), Indian Player: Balwant Singh (Churchill Brothers SC), Fans Player: Boithang Haokip (Shillong Lajong FC) and, Lifetime Achievement: PK Banerjee.
PTI
