Thaindian News

London, Dec. 4 (ANI): Olympic silver medallist boxer Amir Khan has revealed that he would have enjoyed greater stardom in Britain, had he been a White sportsman.

Khan, who was portrayed as a perfect image of multicultural Britain when he won Olympic silver medal in 2004, said that he has been booed regularly by boxing crowds in the past year despite winning a world title in July.

“It’s probably jealousy and sometimes skin colour does make a difference. I would be a superstar in Britain. I never get racial remarks [said to my face], but it’s always out there, which you can’t stop. You just live and learn about what people are like. I just choose to ignore them,” Times Online quoted Khan, as saying.

He said that he suffered abuse after losing in September last year to Breidis Prescott, of Colombia, which was his only professional defeat.

“Straight after the Prescott fight, when people said, ‘He’s finished’, there were racial remarks made. If you go on the message boards and chat forums there are always people who have to get the religious thing in,” he said.

“I’m proud to be British and it’s a very small minority [that mention race], but it does hurt you and it pushes you all the way. I went to the Olympic Games for Britain and won a medal for Britain and then won a world title for Britain but sometimes you don’t see the appreciation.”

At 17, Khan shot to fame when he boxed at the Athens Olympics in 2004 as a young British Muslim with a Pakistani background.

“I’m trying to break that barrier and prove to people it’s nothing like that. They have to look that I’m British. I went to the Olympic Games for Britain. I could have chosen to go for Pakistan if we were all like that,” he said. (ANI)