Wasim Shabir the 16 year old Keighley Cougars Scholarship prop forward has been called up for training by the British Asian Rugby Association (BARA).

BARA are preparing to play the Great Britain Lions Under-18 team on Sunday, July 19 and they are staging a training session at Leeds Rugby’s Kirkstall training facility on Sunday. Wasim has been asked to attend the training session.

Jeremy Crowther, the Cougars’ Scholarship and Football Manager, said: “We’re very proud of Wasim. He’s a credit to his family and the club.”

Wasim was first spotted as a potential Rugby League player by the Cougars when he was a pupil at Guardhouse Primary School in Keighley. He was recruited for the club’s scholarship scheme when he was eleven years old and has played for the Cougar Cubs Amateur Rugby League Club.

He is now a pupil at South Craven High School and Crowther added: “Wasim has progressed really well and we have high hopes for him in the sport.

“He is a real pioneer for Keighley Cougars because he was the first Asian boy to join our Scholarship and the first to go right through the system. He has the full support of his family and that is an important factor for us as a club”.

Caption: Cougar Scholarship forward Wasim Shabir (right) is congratulated by his father Shabir Ahmed on his call-up for the British Asian Rugby Association’s training squad.

Good for him! I didn't even know there was a BARA. Maybe he could inspire some of Keighley's asian community to get down to Cougar Park, give it a go? After all, Cougars are trying to represent the whole of the Keighley community.