Matthew Syed
Matthew Syed | |
|---|---|
| File:Matthew Syed at 2000 Olympic.jpg | |
| Born | 2 November 1970 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
Matthew Syed (born 2 November 1970) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He used to be an English table tennis international, and was the English number one for many years. He was three times the Men's Singles Champion at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships (in 1997, 2000 and 2001)[2], and also competed for Great Britain in two Olympic Games.[3]
Early life
He father is a British-Pakistani [4]and his mother is Welsh. He attended the Maiden Erlegh School in Earley near Reading, then studied PPE at Balliol College, Oxford where he was awarded a prize winning First.
Career
A right-handed defender, he now works as managing director of a sports marketing company, as a commentator for the BBC and Eurosport, and as a journalist for The Times since 1999. He also stood as the Labour candidate for Wokingham in the 2001 General Election, but was unsuccessful.[5] From 1999, he has worked as a Marketing Consultant for the English Table Tennis Association based in Hastings. He was one of the co-founders of TTK Greenhouse, a sports related charity. He is also a regular pundit on radio and television, commentating on sporting, cultural and political issues. His film, China and Table Tennis, made for the BBC, won bronze medal at the the Olympic Golden Rings ceremony in Lausanne in 2008.
He won Sports Feature Writer of the Year at the SJA Awards in 2008[6] and Sports Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards in 2009. His first book, Bounce, published by Harper Collins, is due out in April/May 2010.
References
- ^ Syed, Matthew (2008-05-21). "Gordon Brown - is that all there is?". Times2. The Times. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Championships". comtab.com. Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- ^ "Matthew Syed". olympics.org.uk. British Olympic Association. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/matthew-syed-an-unlikely-hero-648698.html
- ^ "Vote2001 Results & Constituencies". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- ^ [1]