New Delhi, April 27: Former South African cricketer Jacques Kallis has said that he is "embarrassed" to call himself South African.

Kallis said so after South African government banned Cricket South Africa and national federations for rugby, athletics and netball from hosting international events.

The ban has been imposed until these federations transformed to include 60 percent Black South Africans in their teams.

IPL 9: KKR a well balanced unit, says coach Jacques Kallis

"So sad that I find myself embarrassed to call myself a South African so often these days #no place for politics in sport," Kallis, said on Twitter.

Kallis' Tweet received a lot of criticism after which it was removed from Twitter and he said later, "Comment y'day was re political NOT anti Transformation. 40 underprivileged boys had or having education paid for by JK foundation."

National squad for these sports have fielded few Black players despite the majority population being Black.

'Black' is defined by the South African government as including people of African, Indian, Coloured and Chinese descent who were denied opportunities in the apartheid era.

The ban though will have no immediate impact on international tournaments in South Africa, as CSA will not play host to any major tournaments during the current Future Tours Programme (FTP) ending in June 2019.

Oneindia News