BUDDING soccer star Vanisha Patel is celebrating after winning a national Sports Personality of the Year award.

The 12-year-old captain of Deal Town Rangers girls' team was voted the junior female winner in the Sony Entertainment Television awards on Saturday, alongside other winners including Olympic silver medallist boxer Amir Khan and Indian cricketer Farokh Engineer.

"I thought I was in a dream," said Vanisha, who lives in St Margaret's Drive, Walmer.

The midfielder has led her team to victory in the Kent Girls And Ladies Football League and the Tina Marshall Cup and was voted player of the year by the rest of the team in 2004.

Her ambition is to be a professional footballer and she has been training at Charlton Athletic's Development Centre at Dartford, which could lead to a place in the club's under-14 ladies' team.

"I was inspired by the film Bend It Like Beckham because it showed an Asian girl playing football," Vanisha said.

The awards, which honour sports players with a South Asian background, were voted for by the public and presented at the ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London, which featured performances from bands including Girls Aloud.

EastEnders and Bend It Like Beckham actor Ameet Chana hosted the ceremony and Wayne Williams from the band Another Level presented the awards.

Vanisha, who was nominated for the award by her mum Margaret, had been shortlisted alongside a world-championship standard golfer and a volleyball player.

"I felt sick before the ceremony. I couldn't eat or drink," she recalled. "When they announced it I said: 'It's not me, is it?' I still think it's a dream."

Margaret added: "This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us. The ceremony was fantastic with all the glitz and glamour, but when they were coming to Vanisha's section she was really nervous.

"She was saying: 'It's not going to be me, but what if?' When they said her name she couldn't believe it. She didn't know how she did it but she got to the front.

"She had to do a little speech but none of the things she thought of to say beforehand came out. She just thanked people for voting for her and asked them to clap for the other two girls."