Barreto, Chetri nominated for sports award

Kolkata, Dec 5 : Footballers Jose Barreto, Okoli Odafa, Anthony Periera, Sunil Chetri and Rakesh Masih have been nominated for People's choice Footballer of the Year Award 2008-09, an initiative of Football Players' Association of India (FPAI).

The winner will be selected on the basis of public voting, said a FPAI release Saturday.

"The voting procedure has started; anyone can log onto the FPAI website and vote for his favourite player," said the release.

Nominating his peers for the award, Baichung Bhutia, President, FPAI said: "It is a great feeling to be nominated by the peers and be selected for awards by fellow mates. This inspires the footballers. Hopefully it will inspire all of us to play better for India."

Reacting on his nomination, Rakesh Masih said, "I am obviously feeling very good that I have been nominated for FPAI people's choice award along with my fellow players, all of them are equally talented."

The People's Player Award will be given on the FPAI Awards Night on December 13 along with the other awards announced before, namely: Best Foreign footballer, Best Coach, Best Young Footballer and Best Indian Player.