page_title: British Asian
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: British Asian / Notable contributions / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: Amir Khan (left) and Paul Malignaggi on March 17, 2010.
context_page_description: British Asians are persons of predominantly South Asian, and sometimes of broader Asian descent, who reside in the United Kingdom. In British English usage, the term Asian usually refers to people who trace their ancestry to South Asia, in particular the former British Raj and Ceylon.
  Since the 2001 census, British people of general Asian descent have been included in the "Asian/Asian British" grouping of the UK census questionnaires. Categories for British Indians, British Pakistanis, British Bangladeshis, British Chinese and Other Asians have existed under an Asian British heading since the 2011 census.
  Immigration of small numbers of South Asians to England began with the arrival of the East India Company to the Indian subcontinent in the 17th century. Indians came to Britain, for educational or economic reasons, during the British Raj, with most returning to India after a few months or years, and in greater numbers as the Indian independence movement led to the partition of 1947, eventually creating the separate countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
context_section_description: Jawaid Khaliq, the first world champion boxer of Pakistani origin, was born in Nottingham. Amir Khan, the silver medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, has become a cultural icon in the UK with TV audiences of up to 8 million watching him fight. Khan represents Britain in boxing and is the former WBA world light welterweight champion.
  Michael Chopra played for the England national under-21 football team and became the first footballer of Indian descent to play and score in the Premier League. In 2006 he scored one of the fastest goals in Premier League history, as Chopra had only been on the pitch for fifteen seconds after coming on as a substitute. Aston Villa defender, Neil Taylor is also of Indian descent. Currently in the Premier League, Hamza Choudhury, a footballer of Bangladeshi descent, plays for Leicester City F.C., making him the first player of Bangladeshi descent to play in the Premier League, and has also made appearances for the England under-21 team.
  Just as in South Asia, the most popular sport among the British Asian community is cricket; as much as third of the players of the sport at recreational level are of South Asian descent. This has not translated into equal levels of success professionally however, with only 4.2% of cricketers being of British South Asian descent in first-class cricket across the UK. Regardless, many British South Asians have gone on to represent England in cricket internationally. Nasser Hussain, who was the captain of the England cricket team, was born in Madras, India. Other success stories of the past have included Mark Ramprakash, of Indo-Caribbean descent, Isa Guha, of Bengali descent, and Monty Panesar, of Indian Sikh descent. Currently, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are the only players in the England men's squad, both of Pakistani (Mipuri) descent. Ali, affectionately known by fans as 'the beard's that's feared', is currently ranked the 7th best all-rounder in ODI cricket and 8th-best in test cricket worldwide.
  
  Other British Asian sport personalities:
  
  
   
  Akaash Bhatia
  Haroon Khan
  Vikram Solanki
  Qasim Nisar
  Imran Khan
  Tanveer Ahmed
  Sajid Mahmood
  Saqlain Mushtaq
  Adam Khan
  Dimitri Mascarenhas
  Ravi Bopara
  Kabir Ali
  Owais Shah
  Kadeer Ali
   
  Hamza Riazuddin
  Min Patel
  Samit Patel
  Riaz Amin
  Adil Rashid
  Zesh Rehman
  Bilal Shafayat
  Harpal Singh
  Anwar Uddin
  Usman Afzaal
  Adnan Ahmed
  Hammad Miah
  Nayan Doshi
  Majid Haq
   
  Ronnie Irani
  Omer Hussain
  Tosh Masson
  Kash Gill
  Netan Sansara
  Mandip Sehmi
  Rikki Bains
  Rajiv Ouseph
  Ali Jacko
  Bulbul Hussain
  Ruqsana Begum
  Zubair Hoque
caption: Amir Khan (left), with American boxer Paulie Malignaggi (right)
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