THIS weekend, Reshmin Chowdhury will get back to work alongside Laura Woods for TNT Sports' coverage of the Premier League. 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. Fans of talkSPORT have already become accustomed to her knowledge and wit hosting GameDay Exclusive on Saturday mornings.
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.