RESH IS HISTORY How TNT Sports presenter Reshmin Chowdhury battled ethnic prejudice to rule the TV and radio waves
THIS upcoming season, Reshmin Chowdhury will get back to work alongside Laura Woods for TNT Sports' coverage of the Premier League.
Posted Sunday, August 18, 2024 by Thesun.co.uk
Not to say she's rested on her laurels this summer after fronting Eurosport's Olympic output, which cemented her position among the elite broadcasters.
Reshmin Chowdhury has become a staple for TNT Sports viewers
Reshmin has interviewed the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
Fans of talkSPORT have already become accustomed to her knowledge and wit hosting GameDay Exclusive on Saturday mornings, which she returns to this weekend.
But the 46-year-old had her work cut out convincing TV execs she was sports journalist material.
Reshmin, who grew up in an open-minded Bengali Muslim family, has revealed she was questioned about her expertise in the field because of her ethnicity.
Reshmin told us: "It is something I am passionate about. We need more representation.
"It shouldn't be as hard as it was for me for someone getting into sports broadcasting now.
"I believe it would have been 100 per cent easier if I had an 'in'.
"The barriers to entry were everywhere. I didn't have a famous sporting person in my family, or know anyone in TV.
"And being British Asian... I think I had to convince a lot of people that I knew about football. That was the most frustrating part... I mean, is it a surprise?
"I started off working in news, no one questioned me then. I have a politics degree, so it was quite normal.
"But when you come into sport, people look at you and they are thinking: 'Does she know what she is really talking about?'"
Reshmin recalled a particularly nasty encounter with two male colleagues.
"I can remember when I was at the BBC a couple of guys asked me a question about a specific Real Madrid player. I knew they were testing me," she divulged.
"And maybe this is the case for other women, and not just about colour - but they wouldn't do that to another guy."
Over the years, ambitious Reshmin has worked tirelessly to achieve her dream of working in sport. When it came to shows she wanted to work on, she would wait for the credits to roll and find out who was in charge and get in contact with them.
"In the last five or six years, the doors have opened for women in sport. But that hasn't always been the case," she said.
"I would look at programmes I wanted to work on, look at the credits at the end, find the name of the person who was in charge, and would call up the company and get their email address
"I did everything directly, which was how I got my break at Real Madrid TV."
Now a leading light on TV and radio she is a role model for young British Asian girls who want to follow in her footsteps.
She said: "I get Bengali parents who come up to me and tell me their daughters want to become sports journalists because they saw me.
"I can't tell you how much that means to me. Every time I hear that my heart skips a beat.
Reshmin sacrificed time with her children to pursue her career
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