Sikhs in sport: How I spent my summer bursary creating important content

A collage of four sports athletes

We offer each of our trainees a summer bursary of up to £1,000 every summer of their degree to spend on journalism work experience or a journalism project, giving them the unique opportunity to travel and explore the areas of journalism they are passionate about.

Here, School of Journalism trainee Harleen Uppal shares how she spent her summer bursary creating a documentary and article series about Sikhs in sport.

The School of Journalism bursary scheme allowed me to create a documentary and article series based around Sikh athletes, their sports, and how their faith/culture has impacted their careers.

I decided to focus my project on Sikh representation in sports because of my own Punjabi/Sikh heritage and my interest in sports.

I started my documentary filming in Derby, where I visited Pride Park Stadium after speaking with Derby County’s media team.

I got the opportunity to interview Derby County Women’s attacker Kira Rai who had just made her 100th appearance for the club.

Then, I travelled down to Reading to interview former England and Arsenal Women’s goalkeeper Aman Dosanj.

She spoke to me about the importance of not letting female stories get lost in football, which was something I had never considered before – so having the perspective of a former player was really interesting.

Then, I interviewed boxer Jordan Gill in his Peterborough-based gym BoxCross.

Speaking to Gill, who is of half Sikh heritage, allowed me to explore the Sikh faith in sport from the perspective of somebody who has lived in an area with a lack of diversity.

Nonetheless, he spoke about his achievements in and outside of boxing and how he never felt out of place representing England.

For my last interview, I travelled to Ashton-under-Lyne to interview MMA fighter Kiru Singh Sahota who is preparing for the Road to UFC final where he could become the first British Sikh to earn a UFC contract.

We spoke about his training for his fight in November and his journey into MMA from a club at his Sikh temple.

Then, I wrote four articles which outlined the respective athletes sport journey, as well as how they believe Sikhs are represented in sports, how this can be improved and how their faith personally affects them.

For my documentary, I edited all of my interviews and b-roll together to make sure that I best convey the athletes messages for children hoping to get into sports.

This bursary has given me the chance to improve both my interviewing and editing whilst working on a project I am passionate about.

Read Harleen’s stories for her bursary project below:

Kira Rai: The Derby County footballer inspiring change across the Sikh Community

Aman Dosanj: England’s first South Asian footballer whose story was almost lost

Jordan Gill: The boxer who represented his mixed heritage on the global boxing stage 

Kiru Singh Sahota: The Sikh fighter on the path to securing a UFC contract 

You can read more summer bursary blogs here.

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