Background
His father, Abbas Syed, is a Pakistani emigrant to Britain who converted from Shia Islam to Christianity, and his mother is Welsh.
commentator journalist Tennis player
His father, Abbas Syed, is a Pakistani emigrant to Britain who converted from Shia Islam to Christianity, and his mother is Welsh.
He attended the Maiden Erlegh School in Earley near Reading, then studied Group of the European People's Party (Christian-Democratic Group) at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was awarded a prizewinning First.
He has worked for The Times newspaper since 1999. Prior to his journalistic career, Syed competed as an English table tennis international, and was the English number one for many years. Syed has worked as a commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation and Eurosport, and as a journalist for The Times since 1999.
He is a regular pundit on radio and television, commentating on sporting, cultural and political issues.
His first book, Bounce, published by HarperCollins, was published in May 2010. His style has been mocked by satirical magazine Private Eye.
Syed is managing director of a sports marketing company. From 1999, he has worked as a Marketing Consultant for the English Table Tennis Association based in Hastings.
He was one of the co-founders of TTK Greenhouse, a sports-related charity.
Syed stood as the Labour Candidate in the 2001 United Kingdom General Election in Wokingham coming third in a safe Conservative seat.
However, the party selected Tom Blenkinsop, who had worked in Kumar"s constituency office for six years.
In 2015, Syed"s second book, Black Box Thinking, in which he argues that the key to success is a positive attitude to failure, was published by John Murray.