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Birmingham’s grassroots heroes

Exploring what the idea of "commonwealth" means to Birmingham's grassroots sports heroes.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games is being hosted by the UK’s central city of Birmingham - ethnically diverse and where the age profile is younger compared to other British cities. It is home to many people with familial links to commonwealth member countries such as India and the Caribbean. As Birmingham welcomes 4,500 athletes from around the world, Nina Robinson talks to the city’s ‘±«Óãtvtown Heroes’ - locals who have been recognised for their contribution to sport. These include wrestling coach, Ranjit Singh who has been teaching wrestling from his local Sikh Gurdwara for decades and Joan Hunter who has helped grow many generations of local netball players.

We also meet Jeevan Chaggar – the youngest person ever to be made Chair of an English Hockey Club and Salma Bi who founded the UK’s first South Asian women’s cricket team in the UK and has received the British Empire Medal for services to cricket and diversity in sport.
Will the Games leave a positive legacy worth keeping and how much relevance does the commonwealth as an institution hold for residents in 2022?

Presenter: Nina Robinson
Researcher: Dylan Hayward.
A Soundtruism production for ±«Óãtv World Service

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sun 31 Jul 2022 04:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 26 Jul 2022 01:32GMT
  • Tue 26 Jul 2022 08:06GMT
  • Tue 26 Jul 2022 12:32GMT
  • Tue 26 Jul 2022 19:06GMT
  • Sun 31 Jul 2022 04:32GMT