Karthi Gnanasegaram

Karthi Gnanasegaram is a British television and radio presenter working for the BBC, Classic FM and IMG. As of 2011 she is a regular presenter on the BBC for sports programmes and on BBC1 Ten o'clock News, BBC Breakfast, Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Today, and the BBC1 BBC Weekend News. As of 2017 she is also a presenter on Classic FM.

Education

She studied at King Edward VI High School for Girls, a well-known public school in Edgbaston, Birmingham, followed by a Classics degree at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. Whilst at Cambridge she wrote for the student newspaper, Varsity, and played hockey, tennis and badminton.

Presenting career

After working on BBC News and BBC Entertainment show, Liquid News, Gnanasegaram was a sports reporter and presenter at BBC London News until 2007.

She played herself in the BBC drama The Amazing Mrs Pritchard.^[1] She presented Sportsworld and StreetFood at Al Jazeera English in Doha between 2007–2009 before returning to the UK to present the news and sport for Sky News.^[2] Gnanasegaram returned to the BBC and was part of their presenting line-up at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and presented a BBC1 highlights show during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.^[3]

At The Championships, Wimbledon in 2016, Gnanasegaram presented 6-Love-6 with John McEnroe, Tim Henman, and Mary Pierce for BBC Sport.

She hosts Wimbledon tennis coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra as well as reports on matches. Gnanasegaram reports for BBC Sport on Match of the Day, Football Focus, Final Score and The Championships, Wimbledon. She has presented and reported from the Wimbledon tennis championships [5] for BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Sport since 2008. [6]

Gnanasegaram also appears on BBC Radio 2 on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show and Simon Mayo Drivetime participating in the Confessions (radio).

She is a regular presenter of the Today (BBC Radio 4) Sports Desk and was involved in the shows guest edited by Lenny Henry and Sir Bradley Wiggins.^[4]

Gnanasegaram has covered Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, French Open tennis, Champions League final, Open Golf Championships, Ryder Cups, Ashes cricket Tests, The Boat Race and has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

In 2016, Gnanasegaram was part of the BBC Sport team at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She was a commentator for tennis, diving, judo and taekwondo amongst other sports at the Rio Olympic Park for BBC 5 Live. [8]

She is also a presenter for Premier League Productions, produced by IMG Sports and was the amazon prime on-court player interviewer at Eastbourne tennis championships.[9]^[5]

In 2017, Gnanasegaram started presenting for Classic FM (UK) in their 25th anniversary year.

She played both the violin and piano to Grade 8, and toured Europe playing the violin with various West Midlands orchestras during her school holidays. As a student, Gnanasegaram represented the University of Cambridge in tennis and badminton, as well as playing in various orchestras.

In 2017 Gnanasegaram read the Classified Football Results on Sports Report, BBC Radio and BBC World Service becoming only the second female to do so after Charlotte Green.

Gnanasegaram hosted live performances of La bohème and Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera House alongside Gok Wan in Trafalgar Square during the summer of 2018.

She represented the University of Cambridge at tennis and badminton gaining two Blue (university sport).

She also represented Emmanuel College, Cambridge in rowing.

Gnanasegaram was born in Birmingham but is a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan. [3,7]

References

TV Newsroom BBC Sports^[6] BBC Radio 5^[7]

8. http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-08-18/rio-2016-olympics-on-tv-today-thursday-18-august--day-13

9. http://www.classicfm.com/radio/shows-presenters/karthi-gnanasegaram/