Partner Article

Restaurant backs call for more sports funding

One of the north’s leading restaurants is backing a call by the British Olympics Association for more funding for coaches to be made available to boost home-grown talent.

BOA chief Lord Moynihan made the call as he praised Robin Williams as a “gold medal coach” for coaching rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning to victory.

Raval Luxury Indian Restaurant is already throwing its weight behind SportsAid in the region to help an up-and-coming tennis star who dreams of competing at the next Olympics, Rio 2016.

And now manager Avi Malik is calling on other businesses across the north to follow its lead by heeding the call of Olympics experts.

Mr Malik said: “It has been wonderful to see the North East play its part in the Olympics with football matches at St James’s Park in Newcastle.

“Now is the perfect time to capitalise on the feel-good factor to ensure those young athletes who have been inspired by this great event get every opportunity to take part themselves in the future.

“That is why Raval has chosen to raise funds for Grace Dixon, a 16-year-old tennis player from Whickham, Tyneside, who has set her sights on Rio 2016.

“Grace was drawn to our attention by SportsAid as someone deserving of financial backing, so we are doing all we can to raise funds for her by making donations from the sales of certain dishes and by setting up an online donations page.

“It would be wonderful if other North-East businesses explored ways of supporting sport in the region, either by giving financial backing to improve coaching or by working with SportsAid to back the region’s talented youngsters.

SportsAid’s Regional Development Manager, Rob Clarke, said: “It’s great to team up with Raval in such an innovative way. The awards SportsAid make to emerging athletes provide practical support when it’s needed the most and this funding will give Grace a timely boost on her journey. Critically, as well, all the money raised locally will support local rising stars like Grace.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Fenwick .