Lenny in line for player of year award

MUMBAI: Churchill Brothers and India midfielder Lenny Rodrigues is leading the pack in the race to decide the Indian Player of the Year at the Indian Football Awards 2013, which will be announced at a function to be held at the Bombay Gymkhana in Mumbai on Thursday night.
The annual gala organized by the Football Players' Association of India (FPAI) has awards in six categories, including a Fan's Player of the Year award.
Rodrigues has had a stellar season with Churchill Brothers in their I-League-winning run, impressing with his work-rate and vision but has competition from club-mate Sunil Chhetri who turned up with a fantastic cameo on his loan-spell from Portuguese team Sporting Clube de Lisbon B. Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal) and Clifford Miranda (Dempo) complete the list of nominees. The awards are based on votes cast by players competing in the I-League.
"It's a great honour to be nominated and it would be nothing short of a dream come true if I end up walking away with the award. We've won the league and winning this award would be a nice double," said Rodrigues who was coach Subhash Bhowmick's trusted soldier through the campaign.
In the Foreign Player of the Year category, Churchill's mercurial midfielder Beto, East Bengal's Chidi Edeh and Pune FC's Douhou Pierre will be up against the Prayag United SC's pair of Ranti Martins and Carlos Hernandez. Nigerian Martins' huge appetite for goals that has seen him end up as top scorer for the season with 26 goals, puts him in pole position for the accolade.