Sony’s Sports Personality Awards: Winners
Months of expectation came to a thrilling climax as the winners were announced at the fifth annual Sony Entertainment Television Sports Personality of the Year Awards 2005, held at the London Hilton Park Lane on Saturday 4th February 2006.
Announced as the Sports Personality of the Year for the second year running was boxing star Amir Khan, who recently also celebrated a spectacular victory over Vitali Martynov.
Nominees were selected for their contribution and achievements in the British sporting circuit. Eleven sponsored awards in total were presented to the best in each category as voted by the public and a judging panel. These included the HSBC Lifetime Achievement Award presented to legendary cricket star Nasser Hussain.
Over 800 of London�۪s glammed up movers and shakers, industry figures, celebrities and some of the biggest names in sport including, John Fashanu, Chris Lewis, Mark Ramprakash, Alex Tudor, Steve Curtis and sporting legend Farokh Engineer attended the evening.
Alongside the host and leading actor Nitin Ganatra, who recently starred in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, celebrities such as renowned British actor Colin Salmon, Pop Idol judge Nicki Chapman, X-Factor winner Steve Brookstein, Celebrity Big Brother star Faria Alam, girl band Rouge and news presenter Nina Nannar could be spotted amongst the crowd.
The night�۪s entertainment was filled with spectacular performances including chart topping superstars Westlife and highly acclaimed solo singer Lee Ryan.
The event opened with the legendary Maxi Priest followed by sensational performances from soul king Alexander O�۪Neal, Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant, young starlet Keisha White and the one and only Raghav.
The Sony Entertainment Television Sports Personality of the Year Awards was conceived following suggestions and comments from Sony viewers who expressed a concern over the lack of representation of British Asian in mainstream sports. The event now prides itself on celebrating the substantial achievements of British Asian sporting talents from across the United Kingdom and has become a unique institution, raising the profile of these talented amateurs and semi-professional South Asians.
As well as raising much needed awareness of British Asian sporting achievements, the event raised impressive funds for the benefiting charity of the night, The Prince�۪s Trust. The extremely successful auction was hosted by Rajan Singh, Executive Vice President International Business for SET Asia, who commented on the night: ���This years Sports Personality of the Year Awards was a spectacular event which offered a fantastic platform to showcase, across the globe, the immense sporting talent that exists within the Asian community both in the UK and abroad. It was a proud night for everyone involved and showed again that the profile and stature of the event is second to none. We thoroughly enjoyed this absolutely stunning ceremony.�
The well-deserved winners are:
Sunrise Radio Young Sports Personality of the Year:
Nikhil Rawal
MGT Junior Sports Personality of the Year Male:
Jatinder Singh Rakhra
Astra Junior Sports Personality of the Year Female:
Kiran Matharu
Premier Banqueting Most Up & Coming Sports Personality of the Year: Saima Hussain
Cobra Beer Outstanding Achievement Award:
Ajit Singh Kalirai
Western Union Team of the Year:
BACCA
HSBC Lifetime Achievement Award:
Nasser Hussain
Accident Claim Help Line Coach of the Year:
Gian Singh Cheema
Madhu�۪s International Sports Personality of the Year:
Inzamam Ul-Haq
Community Sports Award:
The Prince�۪s Trust ��� accepted by Nina Vadher and Rukshan Cooray
Sony Entertainment Television Sports Personality of the Year:
Amir Khan
Kiran Matharu with Westlife
Nasser Hussain
Saima Hussain and Nominee Yasmin Chand
