England rugby's first female Sikh swaps scrum for sumo

The championship will be held in Scotland on 27 June [Manjinder Nagra]

The first Sikh woman to play rugby for England 30 years ago is now representing her country in sumo wrestling at the age of 51.

Despite being new to the sport, Manjinder Nagra became national champion in her weight category last month, and is now training for the European Sumo Wrestling Championships held in Scotland in June.

The mother-of-three from Hove described it as a "great honour" to be selected for the championship.

"I didn't think at 51 I'd be taking up sumo," she said, "but it's a dream to represent your country twice in your lifetime so I'm going to grab the opportunity with both hands."

Manjinder Nagra, second from right, says she was often the only person of Asian heritage on the pitch [Manjinder Nagra]

Nagra first represented England in the 1990s when she started playing at Bath University and was later selected to play for England Students.

She said she was "quite often" the only person of Asian heritage on the pitch.

She was introduced to sumo wrestling when onboarding sumo champion Mandeep Singh Kundi as a Sikh Games ambassador, who suggested she could participate in a competition his club was hosting in March.

The Sikh Games, of which Nagra is also an ambassador, is a UK-based, not-for-profit organisation created to introduce more ethnic minority participation in sport and unite communities.

She said: "There's still this perception which i think is a myth that Asian people don't like sport... [that] all they're concerned about is, you know, careers.

"I think there's there's more outreach that's happening for sure, but I still think there are barriers there and to say that there aren't, I think, is inaccurate."