Rishi Persad

Rishi Persad (born May 25, 1974)[1] is a UK based sports television presenter.

Early life and career

Persad grew up in the 1980s on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean a keen cricket and horse racing fan.[2] His parents were Indian, his mother worked as a bank manager and his father was a lawyer, but his father also bred and raced horses and would take Rishi on weekends to the stables and to race events. After moving to Britain aged 12 to attend boarding schools in England, Persad left university with a law degree from King’s College London. He worked briefly in Public relations and for Channel 4 before joining the BBC in 2003.[3]

Career

Persad has presented television coverage for the likes of the BBC and ITV at the The Open Championship, The Masters Tournament, Wimbledon, and the World Snooker Championship.[4] Persad has also presented at global events such as the Olympics, The Ryder Cup and The Commonwealth Games.[5]

He has presented Channel 4’s racing coverage and Persad was the interviewer to whom AP McCoy announced his retirement as a jockey following his tenth year of 200 winners.[6] From February 2021 Persad will present Channel 4’s live test cricket coverage of the English cricket team in India in 2020–21, presenting in the television studio alongside pundits Sir Alastair Cook and Sir Andrew Strauss.[7] Previously, Persad was a cricket presenter for the BBC at the 2011 Cricket World Cup in the Indian sub-continent.[8][9]

In late 2020 in Rishi Persad: Leading The Way broadcast on Sky Sports he was interviewed by Josh Apiafi to discuss their routes into broadcasting, their experiences within the sporting media industry and how horse racing can better promote diversity within the sport.[10][11]

References
  1. "Rishi Persad and Emma Spencer among those celebrating today | Horse Racing News | Racing Post". www.racingpost.com.
  2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rishipersad/categories.html
  3. "From Royal Ascot to the Open: Rishi Persad, TV's sporting polymath, remains an assured on-screen presence". www.telegraph.co.uk.
  4. "'I'm not trying to threaten anybody or make anyone feel frightened' | Horse Racing News | Racing Post". www.racingpost.com.
  5. Forrester, Richard (April 18, 2015). "Rishi Persad: My amazing experience at Medinah and dream four-ball".
  6. "Rishi Persad: 'The thought in my head was 'holy s***, this is massive | Horse Racing News | Racing Post". www.racingpost.com.
  7. Ammon, Elizabeth. "Rishi Persad to present as Channel 4 lines up Test team" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  8. "Cricket World Cup on the BBC". BBC Sport. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  9. BBC to show Cricket World Cup highlights BBC Press Office, 16 February 2011
  10. "Rishi Persad: Leading The Way". Radio Times.
  11. https://www.skysports.com/watch/prog/1354/1203/watch/tv-guide/26-12-2020
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