‘RACISM TURNED ME AWAY FROM SUPPORTING OZ’

MELBOURNE: Usman Khawaja has said being racially vilified when he was growing up in Sydney led him to support other countries rather than back Australian sports teams. The Pakistan-born 30year-old said in a blog post that racial abuse was widespread on the playing field during his junior days and blamed it for curtailing the sporting ambitions of a number of his overseas-born friends. “Getting sledged by opposition players and their parents was the norm,” Khawaja wrote on the Players Voice website (playersvoice.com.au).