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MBE for deaf Durban cricket star - Daily News | News | IOL.co.za
A Durban-born man is set to join an elite group of sportsmen when he is awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II next month.
Umesh Valjee, 42, the captain of the England Deaf cricket team, was named in the queen’s New Year’s Honour List for his services to disabled sport.
He will be presented with the award by the queen at Buckingham Palace on February 16.
Umesh, was born in Durban but has lived in England since the age of two months.
He made his international debut in 1992 and has captained his adopted country’s side 43 times.
Last year he became the first deaf cricketer to be named the England Cricket Board’s (ECB) Disability Cricketer of the Year after scoring three centuries for England during a tour of Australia.
His parents, Girdalal and Villas Valjee, who live in La Lucia, were ecstatic at their son’s honour.
Villas said their son had found out that he was to receive the award in December but had kept it a secret from the family and only broke the news to them early this month.
“We are so elated and so proud of him. Words cannot express how we feel,” Villas said.
To top off the family’s good news, Umesh told his parents earlier this week that palace officials had told him that he could invite them and his partner to the ceremony.
“We were over the moon when we heard that we were invited to Buckingham Palace too. It will be such an honour to meet the queen. I am going to wear my sari,” Villas said.
This is not the first time that Valjee has been invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the queen.
In 2006, he was invited along with the senior England national team for tea with the queen.
“It is such an honour for him. Although he has met the queen, before he is very excited about getting the award,” Girdalal said.
Girdalal and Villas moved to England in 1965 with their eldest son, who was also born with a hearing impairment. In 1969 after Umesh was conceived the couple decided that they wanted him to be born in Durban so that “he had a connection to South Africa” and could hold dual citizenship.
They came to South Africa for his birth and left for England two months later.
In 1995 the parents, who own a jewellery store in London, decided to move back to South Africa “for the sun-shine”.
In England, Umesh had risen through the ranks of junior cricket and soon established himself in the Deaf England squad as an opening batsman after playing against able cricketers in premier league cricket for Stanmore CC in Middlesex and Mote CC in Maidstone.
In his spare time he works in the family jewellery store, coaches young deaf cricketers and acts in soapies for the hearing impaired.
While deaf cricket is not a professional sport, Umesh’s talent and commitment to disabled sport have been hailed.
England national disability manager, Ian Martin, has described Umesh as “an outstanding performer in international deaf cricket for many years”.
A Durban-born man is set to join an elite group of sportsmen when he is awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II next month.
Umesh Valjee, 42, the captain of the England Deaf cricket team, was named in the queen’s New Year’s Honour List for his services to disabled sport.
He will be presented with the award by the queen at Buckingham Palace on February 16.
Umesh, was born in Durban but has lived in England since the age of two months.
He made his international debut in 1992 and has captained his adopted country’s side 43 times.
Last year he became the first deaf cricketer to be named the England Cricket Board’s (ECB) Disability Cricketer of the Year after scoring three centuries for England during a tour of Australia.
His parents, Girdalal and Villas Valjee, who live in La Lucia, were ecstatic at their son’s honour.
Villas said their son had found out that he was to receive the award in December but had kept it a secret from the family and only broke the news to them early this month.
“We are so elated and so proud of him. Words cannot express how we feel,” Villas said.
To top off the family’s good news, Umesh told his parents earlier this week that palace officials had told him that he could invite them and his partner to the ceremony.
“We were over the moon when we heard that we were invited to Buckingham Palace too. It will be such an honour to meet the queen. I am going to wear my sari,” Villas said.
This is not the first time that Valjee has been invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the queen.
In 2006, he was invited along with the senior England national team for tea with the queen.
“It is such an honour for him. Although he has met the queen, before he is very excited about getting the award,” Girdalal said.
Girdalal and Villas moved to England in 1965 with their eldest son, who was also born with a hearing impairment. In 1969 after Umesh was conceived the couple decided that they wanted him to be born in Durban so that “he had a connection to South Africa” and could hold dual citizenship.
They came to South Africa for his birth and left for England two months later.
In 1995 the parents, who own a jewellery store in London, decided to move back to South Africa “for the sun-shine”.
In England, Umesh had risen through the ranks of junior cricket and soon established himself in the Deaf England squad as an opening batsman after playing against able cricketers in premier league cricket for Stanmore CC in Middlesex and Mote CC in Maidstone.
In his spare time he works in the family jewellery store, coaches young deaf cricketers and acts in soapies for the hearing impaired.
While deaf cricket is not a professional sport, Umesh’s talent and commitment to disabled sport have been hailed.
England national disability manager, Ian Martin, has described Umesh as “an outstanding performer in international deaf cricket for many years”.