Salim Babu wins May award after getting Sony Sugar back on track

Sony Sugar coach Salim Babu is the Fidelity Insurance Coach of the Month for May.

Babu, who took over from Leonard Odipo in mid-April, garnered 17 votes and narrowly beat Gor Mahia coach Marcelo Ferreira and Paul Nkata of Tusker who received 15 and eight votes respectively.

Babu was nominated for the monthly award – which is run by the Sports Journalist Association of Kenya (SJAK) – for reversing the club’s dwindling fortunes and lifting the team from the bottom spot of the Kenyan Premier League table to their current ninth place.

In a brief awards ceremony held at the team’s Awendo training base, Babu was handed a Sh50,000 cheque and a trophy courtesy of Fidelity Insurance.

The softy-spoken tactician thanked the club management and the fans for their unwavering support, and promised to lead the club to greater heights in the second leg of the campaign.

“Everyone in this club is happy with this award because it is a product of joint efforts from the management, players and the technical bench,” Babu said on Tuesday.

“On a personal level though, it is highly motivating and I can assure you that we shall be performing even better in the second leg. We had a very bad start to the season but we plan to make a strong comeback in the second leg.”

Babu took over the reins at the club in mid-April, at a time when the club was rock bottom on the KPL standings having won none of their matches.

His return to the club saw the club win three and draw one of the four matches in the month of May. Gor Mahia’s Ferreira led his side to four wins in as many matches while Nkata’s Tusker won two and drew two.

Babu becomes the fourth recipient of the award after Francis Kimanzi (Mathare United), Ivan Minnaert (AFC Leopards), and Zedekiah Otieno of Posta Rangers.