New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Santosh Trophy player Ayush Adhikari and Indian women's national team defender Dalima Chibber were on Monday handed the best male and female player of the year awards by Football Delhi at a glittering ceremony here.

In its bid to make Delhi and NCR a vibrant football-playing region, Football Delhi, while taking various initiatives to develop the sport, organised an awards night for the first time.

The ceremony was attended by AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, Hindustan Zinc CEO Sunil Duggal, Reliance Industries VP Priti Srivastava and ex-Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi and Deputy Chief of Mission of Embassy of Spain Eduardo Sanchez Moreno.

"I started playing football because my father was also a footballer and it has my entire family's dream to see me doing well in the sport. This award will provide me the inspiration needed to work harder and make both my family and India proud in future," said Adhikari who scored six goals for Delhi in 2018-19 Santosh Trophy.

"It is an incredible feeling to see the efforts of all the footballers being recognised. Such awards and events motivate us. The best thing is even the people behave behind the scenes are getting the recognition that they deserve," said Dalima after receiving the award.

India U-16 national player Rudransh Singh was chosen as the Best Youth Player (Male) while national U-17 Vice-Captain Aveka Singh got the Best Youth Player (Female) award for the season.

Ex-International players, Aziz Quraishi and Surender Kumar, were given the Football Delhi Diamond Award while Tarun Roy, Santosh Kashyap and Bhupinder Thakur were honoured with the Football Delhi Gold Award.

Football Delhi President Shaji said, "I am thankful to all the stakeholders who have been relentlessly supporting Football Delhi in its journey since its inception. I hope more corporates will come forward to help Delhi become a rich football capital."

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