M A I N   N E W S

US Open final
Despite losing, Bopanna and Qureshi win hearts

New York, September 11
India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Qureshi put up a spirited fight but failed to stop the top seeded Americans Mike and Bob Bryan from winning their third US Open tennis here on Friday.

Bopanna and Qureshi reached their third tour-level final at the Pilot Pen in the run up to the US Open. They were finalists in Nice and Casablanca earlier in the year. The two captured their first ATP World Tour doubles title in Johannesburg in February. They also reached their maiden Wimbledon quarterfinal this year.

An emotional Bopanna-Qureshi, whose attempt at promoting peace between their countries came to the spotlight during their two-week stint here, thanked the crowd for support. The two have been sporting shirts with “Stop War, Start Tennis” written on the back.

Aisam used the occasion to talk about the prejudice that Pakistanis have been facing in the US.

“Well, it is my second loss in as many days. The Indo-Pak Express was going well till we met the Bryans. They were really good. I will really like to thank the crowd. I would also like to say whenever someone from our country comes here, they are considered to be from a terrorist state. It is not true. Pakistan is a peace loving country. We all love peace as much as you do,” he said.

Qureshi also hoped that his partnership with Rohan Bopanna would inspire a resumption of cricketing ties between the two countries. The pair has become a symbol of peace in both India and Pakistan - the two neighbours whose already strained ties deteriorated further after the Mumbai terror attacks.

“I hope people take it in a positive way; no politics or religion should ever come in sports. I feel cricket is affected because of the strong political aspect to it,” Qureshi said.

‘Ambassadors of peace’

Islamabad: The tennis duo has been receiving accolades from the western media for their humanitarian goals and bringing the two countries closer. Terming the tennis combo as “the Indo-Pak Express”, the US and Canadian media have hailed them as ambassadors of peace for their countries “whose officials have difficulty talking to each other”, the Dawn reports.