A father and son from Preston are celebrating being nominated for honours at the British Asian Sports Awards, taking place at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on the 5th March.
Judging the event - which tries to encourage sport as a profession within the Asian community - will be former England cricketer Mark Ramprakash, and Sydney 2000 Olympic gold Denise Lewis.
Two-time Karate world champion Ferrari Faqiri, who also holds a world title in Taekwondo, has been selected as one of the candidates in the Up and Coming Sports Personality category.
Former winners in that particular field include British badminton player Rajiv Ouseph, and cricketer Isa Guha.
And the 19-year-old, residing in Deepdale, is delighted to be nominated alongside competitors of the more popular sports.
He said: "I play a sport which is considered a minority, compared to the major ones like football or cricket.
"So it shows my achievements and hard work is being recognised."
His father and trainer, Hashmat, has been nominated in the Coach of the Year field, making the night extra special for the young sportsman.
"He works equally as hard as me - not only in training me, but the other students he works with too.
"We've accomplished a lot together, and we're going to accomplish even more in the future."
The teenager scooped gold at the Junior Olympics, when it was hosted in Detroit, Michigan in 2008.
But now he has set his sights on a place on the rostrum when the Olympics come to London in 2012.
"That's my goal, but I've always said there is no time limit on my success.
“As long as I work hard and keep hungry, my opportunities will come.”
Ferrari, who also trains youngsters at Faqiri’s Martial Arts Club, studies Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire.
But he says he is still undecided on which path he will take when he finishes his degree.
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