West Ham United Ladies goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan won an Asian Football Award this week
West Ham United Ladies’ Indian international goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan was named the 2015 Woman in Football winner at Thursday night’s Asian Football Awards at Wembley Stadium.
Chauhan attracted plenty of mainstream publicity both in the UK and India when she joined the Hammers back in August as she became the first Indian woman to feature at FA Women’s Premier League level in England.
Now, just over three months later and Chauhan won the Woman in Football award at the third annual Asian Football Awards and she was extremely thankful to everyone that made it possible.
“It’s a huge honour for me and I’d like to thank the Asian Football Awards for considering me for this award,” said Chauhan. “Also to all the supporters that voted for me and, of course, to West Ham United for promoting this nomination as it really helped me make it into the final list.”
The 22-year-old beat off competition for the award from Tanvie Hans and Monica Sharma of Fulham FC Ladies and London Bari LFC captain Sabah Mahmoud and is hoping that her success will help towards the next generation of female footballers back in India.
“I think football is growing back in India, continued Chauhan. “Being from India where we don’t have any professional league or league structure as such, it’s a big deal and more importantly for me now as I feel like I have more responsibility because I’m representing my country and I’m being like a role model for the people that are interested.
“It’s great that I’m in a position where I can inspire young talent and young girls to consider football as a career in the future.”
Chauhan, who most recently represented India at senior level during the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea, was studying a Business Management Masters at Loughborough University when her football career took its most famous step and she now feels like she is adapting to English football well.
“It’s been a big step up for me as I was playing for Loughborough University last season and this is definitely a higher level to that,” she added. “It obviously took a while to adjust but I think I’m doing really well now.
“There is much better co-ordination and communication within the team now and we can hopefully get more good results during the rest of the season.”
Off the pitch though, Chauhan has been interviewed by a number of media outlets about her journey from BBC London and BBC Asian Network Radio to the Times of India and India Today, which was a reaction she didn’t expect at all.
“It obviously feels great and I wasn’t expecting any of this but since I joined West Ham, the news has gone viral on social media and I’m continuously being interviewed by all the major newspapers and news channels back in India and here in the UK.
“I’ve been interviewed by the BBC too where I recently went on air for the BBC Asian Network and now I’ve been nominated for the Asian Football Awards so it’s all very positive and it’s overwhelming for me.
“It feels great that all the struggle and the hard work was worth it because more people are starting to know about me and my journey which is great.”
Chauhan attracted plenty of mainstream publicity both in the UK and India when she joined the Hammers back in August as she became the first Indian woman to feature at FA Women’s Premier League level in England.
Now, just over three months later and Chauhan won the Woman in Football award at the third annual Asian Football Awards and she was extremely thankful to everyone that made it possible.
“It’s a huge honour for me and I’d like to thank the Asian Football Awards for considering me for this award,” said Chauhan. “Also to all the supporters that voted for me and, of course, to West Ham United for promoting this nomination as it really helped me make it into the final list.”
The 22-year-old beat off competition for the award from Tanvie Hans and Monica Sharma of Fulham FC Ladies and London Bari LFC captain Sabah Mahmoud and is hoping that her success will help towards the next generation of female footballers back in India.
“I think football is growing back in India, continued Chauhan. “Being from India where we don’t have any professional league or league structure as such, it’s a big deal and more importantly for me now as I feel like I have more responsibility because I’m representing my country and I’m being like a role model for the people that are interested.
“It’s great that I’m in a position where I can inspire young talent and young girls to consider football as a career in the future.”
Chauhan, who most recently represented India at senior level during the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea, was studying a Business Management Masters at Loughborough University when her football career took its most famous step and she now feels like she is adapting to English football well.
“It’s been a big step up for me as I was playing for Loughborough University last season and this is definitely a higher level to that,” she added. “It obviously took a while to adjust but I think I’m doing really well now.
“There is much better co-ordination and communication within the team now and we can hopefully get more good results during the rest of the season.”
Off the pitch though, Chauhan has been interviewed by a number of media outlets about her journey from BBC London and BBC Asian Network Radio to the Times of India and India Today, which was a reaction she didn’t expect at all.
“It obviously feels great and I wasn’t expecting any of this but since I joined West Ham, the news has gone viral on social media and I’m continuously being interviewed by all the major newspapers and news channels back in India and here in the UK.
“I’ve been interviewed by the BBC too where I recently went on air for the BBC Asian Network and now I’ve been nominated for the Asian Football Awards so it’s all very positive and it’s overwhelming for me.
“It feels great that all the struggle and the hard work was worth it because more people are starting to know about me and my journey which is great.”