A DEAF schoolgirl has been celebrating after being presented with an award recognising her success in disability sport.

Ten-year-old Shahayna Begum, who is a pupil at Girlington Primary School, was highly commended for Panathlon’s West Yorkshire Outstanding Achievement award.

The award recognises Shahayna’s leadership and determination when participating in Panathlon competitions, and also for being a sporting role model for her peers.

Every year Panathlon provides more than 10,000 young people with disabilities and special needs with opportunities to take part in competitive sport when they otherwise may not get the chance to do so.

Taking part in the charity’s events, Shahayna captained her school’s boccia team to a second-placed finish in the Bradford Panathlon, followed by another second place in the West Yorkshire Panathlon competition.

She was presented with her award at the Bradford Multisport Primary Panathlon event at University Academy Keighley on Friday, in which her Girlington Primary team finished third.

At the event, they took part in games including boccia, table cricket, new age kurling, parachute popcorn, and precision bean bag throwing.

Shahayna is profoundly deaf, meaning she can only hear very loud environmental sounds, and she cannot communicate using speech, and instead uses sign language and lip patterns to speak to and understand others.

Claire Hussain, Girlington Primary’s teacher of the deaf, said: “Shahayna is a role model for other deaf children in our school.

“They all wanted to go to the Panathlon event because they’ve seen what Shahayna has achieved and they want to emulate it.

“She is so enthusiastic and determined to succeed at anything. She used to lack a bit of confidence, but now she says she can do it. We’re very proud of her.

“We never consider deafness to be a disability and we always look to challenge our deaf children.

“Panathlon has given Shahayna confidence and a chance to succeed, and it’s really good in terms of encouraging her to interact with other children, and not just deaf children.”

After collecting her trophy, certificate and medal at the event, Shahayna added: “I love loads of sports, especially boccia and dodgeball, and I loved the parachute and kurling games the best.”

Panathlon is a national charity that works in more than 500 schools to deliver sports sessions for disabled children, and annually provides around 75,000 hours of active sport to children with special needs.