Sakib scoops player of the year award

All-rounder Sakib al Hasan scooped the Garmeenphone-Prothom Alo player of the year award 2008 on Friday for his outstanding performance with bat and ball last year, especially in Test cricket.
Sakib was the runaway winner ahead of weightlifter Fahima Akhter Moina and shooter Asif Hossain Khan, who bagged the runner-up awards for winning international accolades in the same year.
Moina was chosen for the award for winning a silver medal in the Asian Junior Weightlifting Competition in Korea and a bronze at the Commonwealth Youth Competition in India.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Asif Hossain Khan was the comeback hero as he won a gold medal in South Asian Shooting in Islamabad, a medal that resurrected his dwindling career.
Leading cellular operator Grameenphone and Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo have been giving the awards annually since 2004. A national cricketer had won the top award every year and this year it was also not an exception.
Khaled Mashud, Habiul Bashar, Shahriar Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful were the previous winners. Sakib was named the emerging player of the year in 2006 and in two years’ time he proved to be good enough to win the top prize.
Grameenphone-Prothom Alo also give three more awards annually – lifetime achievement award, emerging player of the year award and best sportswoman award. Bashir Ahmed, the only Bengali player to play for Pakistan national hockey team, won the lifetime achievement award.
The emerging player of the year and the best sportswoman awards went to chess player Minhajuddin Ahmed Sagar and national women’s cricket team captain Salma Khatun.
Player of the year Sakib received a cheque for Tk 1 lakh while the two runners-up, the emerging-player-of-the-year and the best sportswoman award winners were given a cheque for Tk 50,000 each. The winner of the lifetime achievement award, Bashir Ahmed, was also given a cheque for Tk 1 lakh.

Courtesy of NewAgebd