Herbert Smith in conjunction with The City Sikhs Network is proud to invite you to

British Asian Sporting Success

Date: Wednesday 17th October 2012

Time: 18:00 – 21:00

Venue: Exchange House,  Primrose Street, London EC2A 2HS

 

British Asian Sporting Success is an evening of short inspirational talks and a panel discussion given by leading British Asians in the world of sport.

The objective of the evening is to inspire, motivate and encourage success. Our speakers will share some of their unique insights into how they have achieved such phenomenal success within their life, overcome difficulties and retained a work life balance.

We invite you to join us to listen, ask questions , be inspired and enjoy networking opportunities over drinks and canapes.

Format for the Evening

18.00 Arrival and Registration
18.30 Welcome note from City Sikhs and Herbert Smith
18.40 Short talks from British Asian sports people
19.00 Discussion and Q&A led by compere
19.45 Summary & Close
19.50 Networking with guests over drinks and canapes
21.00 End

Ticket Bookings

To attend this event please RSVP using the following link:
http://asian-sporting-success.eventbrite.com

 

Sponsors

This event has been sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills and Noble Solicitors

 

Speaker  Profiles

Mandip Sehmi – Paralympian Wheelchair Rugby Player

I have over 10 years experience within Wheelchair rugby. My involvement with the sport started in 2000 when I was injured in a road traffic accident suffering a spinal cord injury. I was taken to Stoke Mandiville Spinal Unit for rehab where he met Bob O’shae the captain of the GB Wheelchair Rugby team preparing for the Sydney Paralympics.

After being introduced to the sport in hospital for rehab I quickly realised the gains in everyday living through strength, confidence and being part of a team. The power of sport has given me the opportunity to represent Great Britain at the highest level; the Paralympics. The proudest moment of my career has to be the London 2012 home games – the experience of a life time! My story is simple, with hard work and dedication you can achieve anything and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Mihir Bose – Award Winning Journalist and Author

Mihir Bose is an award winning journalist and author. He writes a weekly “Big Sports Interview” for the London Evening Standard, and also writes and broadcasts on social and historical issues as well as sport for a range of outlets including the BBC, the Financial Times and Sunday Times..

He was the BBC’s first Sports Editor where his job involved investigating and analysing sports stories. His major scoops included revealing the Premier League plans for the 39th game. He covered all BBC outlets including the flagship Ten O’Clock News, the Today programme, Five Live and the website.

Before joining the BBC, he was the chief sports news correspondent for the Daily Telegraph for 12 years where he created an innovative weekly column, Inside Sport. He also wrote on the editorial pages on such subjects as race, immigration, and other social and cultural issues.

He has written for nearly all the major UK newspapers, editing the Inside Track column of the Sunday Times and several business publications. He has presented programmes for radio and television, and written 26 books including The Spirit of the Game, published in January 2011. His new book, Game Changer, exploring the rise of the Premier League, was
published in September 2012.

Isa Guha – Former England Women’s Cricketer

Isa started her sports career as right arm fast medium bowler. She made her Test debut at the age of 17 against India in 2002 when she was named BBC Asian Network Sports Personality of the Year. In 2008, she was ranked the number one bowler in the ICC Women’s One Day International rankings.

Isa is now an upcoming presenter and pundit i.e. ITV’s coverage of IPL, BBC Sport, Test Match special, Sky Sports, Sony etc. This transition from ICC top ten female Cricketer to working alongside some of the leading names in the industry has lead to Isa becoming widely recognised as an ambassador for female sport (with columns with BBC Sport, Sportsvibe.co.uk, Talk Sport pundit and writer for GQ India / Sport Illustrated / Wisden India), while also being widely followed via Twitter with 8500+ followers.

Baljit Rihal – Founder of the Asian Football Awards

Baljit is the founder of the Asian Football Awards (AFA) which held its inaugural event in January 2012. The AFA was launched to recognise the outstanding contribution to both the professional game and grassroots initiatives by individuals and groups across the UK with South Asian heritage. The first ever Asian Football Awards supported by The FA, Kick It Out and Sporting Equals saw leading figures come out to support the glitzy event at the home of football, Wembley Stadium.

He is also a director of Inventive Sports, a social enterprise that provides pathways for those looking to excel in the world of sport. Inventive Sports have worked very closely with Chelsea FC on their Asian Star talent initiative for a number of years. They also conceptualised and delivered the first ever Community Development Centre in association with The FA and Queens Park Rangers Football Club.  Inventive Sports mentored and provided a pathway for individuals onto the FA COACH Bursary scheme. More recently they have worked closely with the London Mayor’s office to deliver free football coaching sessions to underrepresented groups in the West London region.

Baljit has formed excellent links with various football organisations such as The FA, Kick It Out, Show Racism the Red Card and Sporting Equals. He is very much respected in the world of football as a campaigner for the Asians in Football cause. In a quest to aid aspiring Asian footballers, Baljit qualified as a Football Players Agent licensed by The FA in 2010. He has been working with players and clubs in the UK and India to provide future pathways into professional football.

Baljit’s passion for increasing awareness of Asians in Football saw his efforts recognised when he was amongst a select list of prominent Sikhs invited by the Prime Minister to a Vaisakhi reception at Downing Street. He is a member of The London FA’s Equality Advisory Group, The Asians in Football Forum and has aspirations to become part of the national Football Association’s Equality Advisory Group in 2013.

Baljit has also been serving the West London community as a Magistrate 3 years.He is an active campaigner for Operation Black Vote, seeking to inspire BME communities to engage with public institutions in order to address persistent race inequalities. His aims are to work in collaboration with OBV to help address the lack of Asians in UK football.

Baljit is currently working on next year’s Asian Football Awards, in a quest to further elevate and indeed inspire future generations of Asians in Football.

To top it all off, he is also a proud Ambassador of City Sikhs !
He can be contacted on twitter @BaljitRihal and via email bal@asianfootballawards.co.uk