By NDINAWE SIMPELWE
and SANDRA MWILA
ZANACO star Augustine Mulenga struggled two hold back tears after his wish to dedicate the best player award to his late daughter came to pass on Friday evening.
Mulenga was crowned MTN-FAZ Super Division best player for 2017, beating teammate Toaster Nsabata and league top scorer Chris Mugalu to the award.
Mulenga had said after his nomination that he hoped to win the award so that he could dedicate it to his daughter, Hope, who died while he was away in Nigeria for the World Cup qualifiers where his goal in the
first-half was disallowed.
Mulenga who expressed both happy and sad emotions for winning the award said it felt good to win such a big award and seeing his wish to dedicate it to his daughter come true.
“It feels good to win something big, like this award. This means a lot in my life. This award every time I see it, I will be remembering my late daughter who passed on when I was out of the country. I thank God for giving me the courage to fight for each situation that was coming my way. I will continue working hard even next season so that I can win more awards,” an emotional Mulenga said.
He said winning the award ahead of Chris Mugalu who was the top scorer and his team mate Toaster Nsabata showed how much hardwork he had put in.
Meanwhile, young player of the year winner Lameck Banda of Nkwazi is targeting to end the 2018 season as top scorer in the league.
He said he was happy to have received his first award in his career and hoped it was the beginning of  more  awards to come.
“It is my first award. I hope I won’t end just here, I hope I will win more awards so that my career can continue to grow. Looking at my performance at my club I knew I was going to win it,” Banda said.
Zanaco’s Ziyo Tembo who won the most disciplined player award gave credit to his teammates for the support while top scorer Chris Mugalu of Lusaka Dynamos said only hard work helped him achieve his success this year.