Samit Patel Wins Sports Personality Of The Year At The British Asian Sports Awards

Samit Patel wins Sports Personality of the Year at the British Asian Sports Awards

The winners of the British Asian Sports Awards were revealed at a gala event held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on Saturday 21st February. The coveted Sports Personality of the year award went to cricketer Samit Patel.

The award was collected by Mr Patel, father of Samit Patel. Samit is currently representing England in the West Indies. Mr. Patel was thrilled to accept the Sports Personality of the Year Award for Samit: “Samit was up against some very talented people and he is very honoured to have won the award. Being chosen by the public and a panel of expert judges makes this award a great personal achievement for him.”

The Sports Personality of the Year award was presented by cricketer Michael Vaughan and Salman Amin the president of UK’s largest FMCG brands, PepsiCo UK.

Other winners on the night included:

Salil Navapurkar, aged 9 from Northwood in Middlesex for Young Sports Personality of the Year (under 10)
Manisha Chowdhary, aged 16 from Pinner in Middlesex for Junior Sports Personality of the Year (under 18, female)
Joshua Sharma, aged 14 from Swindon for Junior Sports Personality of the Year (under 18, male)
Sunny Hira, aged 25 from Birmingham for Most Up and Coming Sports Personality of the Year
Barinder Singh, aged 25 from Leicester for Outstanding Achievement Award
Jagtar Singh Johal, aged 41 from Leicester for Coach of the Year
Samit Patel, aged 24 from Nottingham for The British Asian Sports Awards Sports Personality of Surinder Arora for Community Business in Sport
Mahendra Singh Dhoni for International Sports Personality of the Year
Vijay Amritraj for Lifetime Achievement Award

Former England cricketer and BASA brand Ambassador Mark Ramprakash, who was honoured with a champagne moment for scoring one-hundred 100’s in first class cricket describes the event, “Today’s ceremony was spectacular! I am truly humbled to have received this award for what I would describe as the most cherished moment in my cricketing career. I would also like to give my heartfelt congratulations to all the winners and their proud parents.”

The event also announced the British Asian Sports Awards and Change4Life partnership that will result in a new identity for the awards ceremony in 2010. Neeraj Arora, Senior Vice President of Sony Entertainment Television Asia, the organiser of the award ceremony was joined by a spokesperson from the Change4Life campaign to unveil the new look that will continue to encourage youth to take up physical activity but will also encourage them to think about the type of food they eat and how to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Neeraj Arora feels that the new partnership is a positive step forward in making the British Asian community aware of dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, “This year’s awards ceremony was an overwhelming success, and the turn-out has exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t be happier with the show of support we’ve had this year and hope it carries on in the years to come. By partnering with Change4Life, our awards have only gone from strength to strength. The Change4Life message is one that BASA endorses whole-heartedly.”

The shortlisted nominees and winners were joined by a host of industry figures, national and international celebrities and leading sports icons including boxing promoters Frank Maloney and Frank Warren, the skipper of the first all female crew to sail around the world in the Whitbread Round The World Yacht Race, Tracy Edwards (MBE), Olympic gold medal winner Denise Lewis, Dragon’s Den panellist and business entrepreneur James Caan and ex-footballer Peter Reid.

Performances on the night were provided by Escala, Shola Ama, Mutya Buena, Soul ll Soul, Kunal Ganjawalla and Lemar. The event shall be broadcast globally on Sony Entertainment Television Asia in early April 2009.

The proceeds that were raised from the charity auction were all donated to The Anthony Nolan Trust, BASAs nominated charity for this year’s awards ceremony.