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Voting for the Change4Life British Asian Sports Awards opens!

It's time to pick up the phone and place your votes for your favourite budding sports stars and heroes as the build up to the Change4Life British Asian Sports Awards hots up. Voting lines are now officially open to the public until Thursday 4th February. 

Amongst the shortlisted hopefuls this year are Formula One racer Adam Khan, Yorkshire and England cricketer Adil Rashid, Queens Park Rangers Vice-Chairman Amit Bhatia and England women's cricketer Isa Guha. The Awards, which are made up of ten categories and judged by a panel of experts are, for the first time, taking place in partnership with the ground-breaking Change4Life movement which supports families to 'eat well, move more and live longer'

The partnership with Change4Life aims to increase awareness of the importance of eating well and moving more amongst the South Asian Community, where obesity remains a huge challenge, with current estimations that nine out of ten kids could be overweight or obese by 2050 if no action is taken.

The panel of expert judges, includes British Asian Sports Award ambassador and former England cricketer Mark Ramprakash, Evening Standard sports contributor Mihir Bose, the skipper of the first all female crew to sail around the world in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Tracy Edwards (MBE), Olympic Gold medallist, Denise Lewis (OBE), Lorraine Deschamps of Sporting Equals and Executive Vice-President - International Business for Sony Entertainment Network, Rajan Singh. 

Nominations have been flooding in from across the UK with budding sports stars and their coaches also being put forward for the chance to win an award. This year's shortlist features a range of talent including Women's Senior footballer, Riana Devi Soobadoo from Essex, boxer Ambreen Sadiq, from the West Midlands and professional pool player, Raj Hundal, from Middlesex.

Ambassador for the Awards, Amir Khan, describes them as a fantastic opportunity to showcase and celebrate the outstanding achievements and contributions made by British Asians in sport: "It's great to see the Change4Life British Asian Sports Awards nurture young talent and acknowledge those that are helping this talent develop. Role models drive young talent to excel in their sport so I feel that this awards show is important in recognising the role models of the future. Being an ambassador is a great honour for me because I'm able to give something back to the community and inspire more Asians to be the best in their sport."

Executive Vice-President - International Business for Sony Entertainment Network, Rajan Singh, said: "The standard of nominees this year has been exceptionally high and choosing our shortlisted finalists was a hard task. Having set up this awards programme, it's heartening to see the growing number of British Asians representing sport in a variety of ways. The more young people we can encourage to get involved in any type of physical activity the better because it means they are living a healthier lifestyle, and with the support of Change4life hopefully this number will continue to grow." 

The event, which takes place on the 6th February at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London is the only awards ceremony of its kind that recognises and honours the best in British Asian sporting talent. The charity of choice for the Change4Life British Asian Sports Awards 2010 is The British Asian Trust, and the event is also being supported by Sporting Equals.