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Ali "Dhaganday" Ashfaq (L) last night wins the Haveeru Maldivian Footballer of the Year 2007 award at the Haveeru Sports Awards 2007 ceremony held at Dharubaaruge in Male.
Ashfaq, former Valencia striker who played for New Radiant during the last two years and who will join VB Sports for the upcoming football season, scored for New Radiant when it won the 2007 Football Association Cup.
He scored 16 goals during the last season and was in 2003 also declared the Footballer of the Year at Haveeru Sports Awards.
From that year, for three consecutive years, Ashfaq set a record by also winning the Haveeru Golden Boot given to the top scorer of the season.
From 2007 Ashfaq has been the Vice Captain of the Maldives' national football team and was the captain of the under-23 team during last year's Olympic qualifiers.
Bank of Maldives' Card Center sponsored the golden trophy and Rf25,000 cash prize given to the Footballer of the Year.
The first runner-up for the award was Ismail Anil while Asad Abdul Ghani won second runner-up.
The Haveeru Golden Boot this time was won by Ibrahim "Oppo" Fazeel who plays for VB Sports. He won the award for the second consecutive year, having scored 18 goals in three tournaments during the last football season. The most goals came at the Dhivehi League.
By winning last night, Oppo became the fourth player to have won the Golden Boot for two consecutive years.
Ibrahim Nizar won the Haveeru Maldivian Volleyballer of the Year award.
Nizar, 36, is the most senior volleyballer to have won the award. He started playing for New Radiant under expert coach Sayyid Ali.
Nizar is no stranger to Haveeru Sports Awards; he won the Volleyballer of the Year awards in 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Nizar was declared the best digger at all volleyball tournaments held by the Volleyball Association during last year.
He was awarded the Haveeru golden trophy along with a cash prize of Rf10,000 which was sponsored by Makita / STO Home Improvement. The award was co-sponsored by Megachip Private Limited.
Aminath Shiura was declared the Sportswoman of the Year 2007. Shiura plays both basketball and netball, and was a key player for Maldives during the 2007 tri-nation netball tournament held in Sri Lanka.
Shiura was nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year award from basketball. She was among the best five players of the Association Cup and the national basketball tournament of last year.
She was also the best defense player of the national netball tournament last year.
Shiura was among the nominees competing for the Haveeru award when it was introduced in 2006.
She was given the Haveeru trophy along with a cash prize of Rf10,000.
Yumna came in second place in the award while Mariyam Rizny came in third place.
Mauroof "Maattay" Ahmed won the Best Football Coach award; he also won the award for 2006.
After a six-year hiatus, Mauroof won for Victory Sports Club the Dhivehi League and took the club to the finals of the national football tournament. However, he lost the chance in 2007 to win for Victory the national football cup.
Mauroof was given a Rf10,000 cash prize along with the Haveeru trophy, an award sponsored by Hitachi / STO Home Improvement.
Victory's Ahmed Afshan Rashad was declared the Best Basketball Player of the Year 2007.
Afshan was among the best five players at the Association Cup and the National League.
He won the best player award at the Invitation Cup which was participated by foreign teams. Afshan was also the Star Player of the Year 2007 declared by the Basketball Association.
Haveeru introduced this award this year and gave Rf15,000 in a cash prize along with the Haveeru golden trophy. The award was sponsored by Novelty Bookshop and co-sponsored by All Sports.
Hassan Nizar won the shield given to the best contributor to sports.
At the Sports Awards held at Dharubaaruge, the international convention center in Male, Haveeru Chairman Dr. Mohamed Zahir Hussain gave commemorative certificates to the four panels of judges. He also gave away Haveeru Special Customer Awards and gave the welcome speech at the ceremony.
