Asian Sports Foundation’s strategy launched to get more Asians into sports

Asian Sports Foundation’s (ASF) Strategy ‘Active Lives, Healthy Futures’ was launched at City Hall London on 18th September 2023. The strategy is to focus on improving the health of the Asian community living in England. Among the attendees at the launch were Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport Stuart Andrew MP, the Chief Executive of Sport England Tim Hollingsworth and Annie Zaidi MBE, founder of the Coach AnnieZ Foundation – an initiative supported by ASF.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport Stuart Andrew MP said: “Sport and physical activity provide huge benefits for our mental and physical health, so we are determined to improve access and inclusivity across the sector.
“I welcome the Asian Sports Foundation’s ‘Active Lives, Healthy Futures’ strategy that closely aligns with our own recently published sports strategy which aims to have 3.5 million more active people by 2030.”
Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England, said: “Sport England is delighted to support the launch of this strategy and the aims of the Asian Sports Foundation. ‘Active Lives, Healthy Future’ brings a welcome, timely and important focus on the role that playing sport and being physically active can have in improving the health and wellbeing of the Asian community living in England.”
Jug Johal, Chairman of the ASF, said: “We are further developing our plans to increase Asian participation in sport to improve the health of the community, with the additional gains of better community cohesion, positive attitudes about life and living in the UK and even on crime prevention. ‘Active Lives, Healthy Futures’ involves ASF undertaking and then providing research and insight to national sporting bodies, professional sports clubs and any other organisations looking to better engage with Asian communities in England. ASF will offer tailored training courses (online and face-to-face) for organisations looking to better engage with Asian communities. The ASF will help organisations that provide this sort of outreach work to find longer-term funding.”
The ASF is a charity established in 2015 that aims to increase the sporting and physical activity levels of people of all ages from ethnic minority backgrounds, with a specific focus on supporting people from Asian communities in England.