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

The awards were given out in 34 disciplines.

Delhi’s Ayush Adhikari, who displayed his talent at the 2018-19 Santosh Trophy by top scoring with 6 goals, was given the Best Player (male) award for the year 2018-19. India international and defender Dalima Chibber was adjudged the Best Player (female) for 2018-19.

India’s 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.

AFC A License holder and AIFF coach and education instructor Paritosh Sharma was selected the Best Coach (male) for helping Delhi qualify for the Santosh Trophy final round after a gap of five years.

The efforts of Disha Malhotra, AFC A License holder and AIFF coach and education instructor, as the India U-17 women’s team assistant coach and the Delhi women’s team coach were recognised as she was bestowed with the Best Coach (female) award for 2018-19.

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.

For the Best Football Developmental Project, the NDMC U-10 Girls’ Development Programme was honoured while JSW & COSCO received the Outstanding Contribution (corporates) award.

Among the educational institutions recognised for their tireless contributions to the sport were Modern School, Barakhamba Road, and Vasant Valley, Vasant Kunj, which got the Best School in Football (men) and Best School in Football (women) awards, respectively. Zakir Hussain Delhi College and Janki Devi Mahavidyala were chosen as the Best College in Football (men) and Best College in Football (women), respectively.

The glittering ceremony was graced by AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das, Hindustan Zinc CEO Sunil Duggal, Reliance Industries VP Priti Srivastava, ex-Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quareshi and the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Spain, Eduardo Sanchez Moreno.