Rishi Persad (born May 25, 1974) is an Indian, UK based sports

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

Early life

Persad grew up in the 1980s on the island of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

a keen

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

fan. 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 A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

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.

Career

Persad began his career in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

before joining

At The Races Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...

in May 2002. Eight months later, he would make his terrestrial TV debut on Channel 4 Racing. Shortly after, he joined the BBC. Persad worked for a number of channels including the likes of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

The Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, and the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the wealthiest, with total prize money in 2022 of £2,395,000, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927 Wor ...

. Persad has also presented at global events such as the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

The Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

and The Commonwealth Games. In 2012, Persad returned to Channel 4 racing, and he was the interviewer to whom

AP McCoy Sir Anthony Peter McCoy (born 4 May 1974), commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and the UK, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a reco ...

announced his retirement as a jockey following his tenth year of 200 winners. In 2016, it was announced ITV would be taking over coverage of terrestrial horse racing from Channel 4, and Persad was retained for the new line up. In late 2020 in ''Rishi Persad: Leading The Way'' broadcast on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

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. From February 2021 Persad presented Channel 4’s live test cricket coverage of the

English cricket team in India in 2020–21 The England cricket team toured India during February and March 2021 to play four Test matches, three One Day International (ODI) and five Twenty20 International (T20I) matches. The Tests formed part of the inaugural 2019–2021 ICC World Test C ...

. He presented in the television studio alongside pundits

Sir Alastair Cook Sir Alastair Nathan Cook (born 25 December 1984) is an English cricketer who plays for Essex County Cricket Club, and played for England cricket team, England in all international formats from 2006 to 2018. A former captain (cricket), captain ...

and

Sir Andrew Strauss Sir Andrew John Strauss (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricket administrator and former player, formerly the Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). He played county cricket for Middlesex, and captained the Engla ...

. Previously, Persaud was a cricket presenter for the BBC at the

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

in the Indian sub-continent.BBC to show Cricket World Cup highlights
BBC Press Office, 16 February 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Persaud, Rishi 1974 births Living people British television presenters ITV people Sports commentators British horse racing writers and broadcasters Equestrian commentators

Alumni of King's College London This list of King's College London alumni comprises notable graduates as well as non-graduate former, and current, students. It also includes those who may be considered alumni by extension, having studied at institutions later merged with Kin ...

Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United_Kingdom Trinidad and Tobago expatriates in the United Kingdom