A new national campaign to raise awareness of how more ethnic minority communities can pursue a professional sports career is being launched in Leicester.
An evening of Asians in Cricket, which is being held next week, will bring together a number of leading sporting experts, ex-players and industry specialists on how more British Asians can make the breakthrough to a professional level in sport.
The evening event will feature presentations, panel discussions and networking sessions and aims to equip delegates with market intelligence, insights, best practices and trends to help develop a future strategy across the UK.
There are approximately 3.5 million British Asians in the UK with only handful making it as professional sportsmen and sportswomen.
The event has been organised by Asians in Sport Foundation alongside Leicestershire County Cricket Club. Speakers at the event will include Tracey Francis, head of growth at ECB and Wasim Khan MBE, CEO of Leicestershire CCC.
Jug Johal, chairman of the Asian Sports Foundation said: “We are really excited to launch this initiative and have the support of the sporting industry on how we can tackle this under representation from within the British Asian community.
“We will be exploring participation in cricket within the Asian community and how we can breakdown cultural and religious barriers by providing sporting benefits.
“Over the years, cricket seems to be doing better than other sports with a number of high profile British Asians representing the national team so this is a good basis and starting point on how this can be replicated to other sports.
“Sports participation at grass roots level within the Asian community is higher than ever before so we know there is still more that can be done.”
The event will explore a range of topics including the challenges pursuing a professional career within the Asian community, developing sports-led programmes in marginalised communities within the UK and insights from cricket which can be leveraged in the business world.
Vikram Banerjee, head of strategy at ECB, said: “The passion for cricket is clear to see with South Asian communities in the UK.
“At the ECB we know we are only scratching the surface of this potential, and our 'South Asian Engagement strategy' aims to tackle the barriers in place to ensure more young boys and girls get the right opportunities at the right time."
The event will include keynote speeches from Tracey Francis, head of growth at ECB, Wasim Khan MBE, CEO of Leicestershire CCC, Gulfraz Riaz, chairman of National Asian Cricket Council, and Jigar Naik, a former player at LCCC.
