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[Blwe_torch]

Kallis remembers his parents during singing of national anthem

 
DURBAN, DEC 18 (PTI)
South African vice-captain Jacques Kallis today met Cricket Board Chief Executive Gerald Majola and revealed that he observes silence for his late parents during the singing the new democratic national anthem before international matches.

Majola said Kallis had explained his reasons for not singing the national athem after it created a controversy in the local media and added that the all rounder would be allowed to remain silent during the singing of the national anthem.

"Jacques has explained why he is silent during the singing of the anthem before international matches and his explanation is completely acceptable to Cricket South Africa," Majola said.

Jacques recently lost both his parents, and he was particularly close to his father who was his cricket mentor.

They would often sing the anthem together, and his father was very proud of his son playing for South Africa.

"Jacques told me that he sings the anthem in his heart in a quiet moment in remembrance of his parents and in gratitude for what they did to allow him to be good enough to represent his country," the CSA CEO said.

"He has great respect for the anthem and cherishes every moment he has represented South Africa around the world. All the Proteas' players understand the importance of the anthem, and they each pay tribute in their own way during the playing of the national anthem at international matches," he said.

Kallis said he was disappointed that his patriotism was being questioned.

"The questioning of my patriotism and commitment to South Africa can easily be answered by visiting my website http://www.kallis.co.za/test/ and seeing the Jacques Kallis Scholarship Foundation I have set up and this will clearly illustrate my passion and willingness to redress the imbalances of the past.

"I hope my personal and family wishes would be respected and this matter would be settled," he said.
 
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=438287

[Libran]

A lesson to all people who question other people's partiotic affiliations be it cricketers or fans ...

One cannot look less sheepish than this ....dig deep and hide away for atleast a year or two