First British Sikh female to play for England

Ashpal Kaur Bhogal has become the first British Sikh female player to be selected in any of the England Woman's Hockey international programs.

Leeds Met Carnegie hockey Coach, Regional Performance coach and former elite player, Bobby Bhogal has been single handily coaching Ashpal Kaur Bhogal, who is also his daughter, since the age of six.

Ashpal says she has "realised a dream in being selected for the England Under 16 squad to travel to Holland for the Four Nations tournament next month."

Bhogal (15) is a Leeds based schoolgirl and currently a pupil at Boston Spa School Leeds. She made it through several months of rigorous assessment to earn her place in the 18-strong party. Ashpal has moved through the England Hockey's new single system process and has excelled at every age group.

Ashpal, who started playing senior Ladies hockey with Pudsey Leeds aged 9, now represents Harrogate Hockey club Woman's 1st team and has been playing there since aged 13. She managed to retain her place in the national side after the provisional 30-strong squad was whittled down to 18 over the course of a three-month period.

Along with her 17 team-mates, Bhogal will be part of a holding camp at Lilleshall at the end of the month before flying out to the Netherlands on April 1.  England face Germany, Spain and hosts Holland during the five-day competition.

Coach Bhogal said "What she has done is inspirational and I cannot yet convey in words how proud our family is of Ashpal. To get to this point we started the journey 10 years ago and through shear hard work, dedication, focus and commitment we are here today. Was it worth it? You bet!"

He added: "A significant part of our programme was carried out using our exceptional facilities here at Leeds Met".