Vanisha Patel was inspired by the movie Bend It Like Beckham

Vanisha Patel, of Walmer, is captain of Deal Town Rangers girls' team.

She was nominated for the Sony Television Asia award and picked up the accolade on Saturday at a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in London.

Football-mad Vanisha said of her win: "I was in a dream. I thought it would be someone else. I was so shocked."

'Good fun'

She said: "It means a lot to me, obviously for winning it, but also so I can help other Asians.

"I want other Asian people to get into sports because its not really like Asian girls to play sports.

"But it is good fun and I will just tell them to give it a go and you never know they might like it."

Vanisha has watched Bend It Like Beckham, in which a young Asian girl achieves her football dream against the odds, at least 25 times.

"My mum got it for me as a Christmas present and I love it," she said.

In the film, the heroine's parents disapprove of her playing football but Vanisha does not have that problem.