Punjabi Rams to Extend Kira Rai Support as Blackburn’s Millie Chandarana Wins Asian Achievement Award Nominations | Football news

The Punjabi Rams will renew their sponsorship of Derby County Women’s striker Kira Rai, with an announcement expected ahead of the Ewe Rams’ League Cup away game at Fylde this weekend.

Sikh-Punjabi attacker Rai, who just turned 23, has spent more than a decade at Derby and is now one of the hottest players in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division side.

The Punjabi Rams – is an official Derby County fan group – has supported Rai since she joined the team at the age of 17, and are planning to announce an extension of their winger’s sponsorship for the season Thursday, before the team’s opening game. met Burnley last month.

But Rai picked up the injury against Cardiff City in Derby’s final pre-season friendly when an opposing player hit her with his knee, forcing her to miss the start of the season and delay notification.

She returned to form earlier this month, providing two assists in 6-1 wins over Birmingham and West Midlands Ladies, but missed Sunday’s 0-2 loss to Fylde as a measure. prevent. Sky Sports News Rai will be back on the pitch soon.

Speak privately with Sky Sports News of her relationship with the Punjabi Rams, Rai said: “It’s great to have their support. During the Derby I was always motivated, I received a lot of support from the club, but then to have a small community of your own in a very large club.

“I feel like it’s a pretty unique thing for me and I feel lucky to have that. And obviously, as a Punjabi girl, have their support. [is an amazing feeling].

“It’s like you have your own community behind you and you want to be an inspiration to them, but they’re also an inspiration to me. They highlight and present football in the South Asian context that’s the thing. normal.”

Both Rai and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Millie Chandarana are active supporters Sky Sports and Sporting Equals partnership, aims to shine and develop England’s South Asian football talent, especially in women’s and women’s football.

Chandarana was shortlisted for the Sports Personality of the Year award at this week’s 20th Annual Asian Achievers Awards, which took place at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on Friday night.

The 25-year-old was awarded the award alongside former lightweight boxing world champion Amir Khan, one of the country’s first qualified South Asian cricket referees, Salma Bi and British track and field athlete two times Karenjeet Kaur Bains.

Chandarana, who spent two seasons playing in the top flight in Italy, rejoined Blackburn in the summer of 2021 before signing professional with Rovers Ladies earlier this year.

The 25-year-old previously shared her experience with the game working directly with Sky Sports News’ Dev Trehan, who also earned a nomination at the Asia Achievers Awards – in the Community Services category. copper.

Trehan, who first started working for Sports sky in 2013, developed the first ever British South Asian index page in the field of Football, producing content every week since November 2020, inspiring countless people and bringing this topic to life. to millions of eyeballs around the globe.

Trehan is also a qualified coach and FA Level 2 scout, and the only South Asian professional female player in football in the country. He has been working with families of elite potential female players from South Asian football backgrounds for 18 months, with two of those players moving to West Ham to play academy football this summer. .

He has also been nominated for Sports Journalist of the Year alongside Sky Sports NBA’s Mo Mooncey at next month’s Asia Media Awards at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate.

ITV Sport and BBC 5 live broadcaster Aaron Paul was also shortlisted, along with BBC Sport quartet Aatif Nawaz, Nikesh Rugani, Sanny Rudravajhala and Kal Sajjad. Past recipients of the award include Seema Jaswal, Vaishali Bhardwaj and Sky Sports News transfer expert Dharmesh Sheth.

How Sky is trying to change

The lack of ethnic diversity at the end of the girls game was heavily focused on female euro, with England starting all white in all six of their matches at the tournament.

Ahead of the tournament, FA Director of Women’s Football Baroness Sue Campbell said in an interview with Sky Sports News that the current talent identification and recruitment system in the game for girls and women excludes a lot of people.

According to the PFA, less than 10% of the players in the female Super League come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. And the number of British South Asian professionals in the top quintile stands at a shameful 0.3%, even though South Asian women are the largest single ethnic minority group of women in the country.

Sports sky recognize and start taking steps to address the lack of diversity in the women’s game by 2020 as part of a £30m commitment to tackle systemic racism and make a difference in communities across the UK.

Sports sky worked with dozens of current and former players from different nationalities, and tried to give them a platform to share their stories trying to capture the imagination and tradition. Inspire the next generation of female players from underrepresented communities.

Talent has been identified and signed directly with the Football Association and clubs as part of Sports Sky’ unprecedented commitment to Britons in South Asia in Football, which also sees us dedicate a section of our website to raising awareness about South Asians in the Gameand create a dedicated reel Blog.

A number of potential and elite female players and their families have also been provided with mentoring support and access to off-field development opportunities.

Earlier this year, Sky Sports also partnered with the country’s largest sports race equality charity, Sporting Equals, has seen us support nationwide engagement, including development ‘Seeing is believing’ event for the centuries-old west London sports club at Indian Gymkhana.

South Asian British in football

For more stories, features and videos, visit our breakout South Asian Football Page on skysports.com and South Asians in the Game blog and always follow Sky Sports News and Our Digital Sky Sports