Pakistan-India peace pair advances to US Open final

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Pakistan-India peace pair advances to US Open final

AFP/Getty Images – Rohan Bopanna (L) of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan play against Eduardo Schwank and Horacio

NEW YORK (AFP) – Taking the biggest steps yet in their quest to inspire peace between their homelands, India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi reached the US Open men's doubles final on Wednesday.

With United Nations ambassadors from their countries sitting side-by-side to cheer them on, Qureshi and Bopanna beat Argentina's Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zaballos 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

"I always believed we would have to do well in the Grand Slams to get the message across," Qureshi said. "Them coming to watch us here, it's a big step. They were very encouraging. They said what we are doing is a great thing.

"It just feels like us doing well on the bigger level is getting the message across throughout the world - if me and Rohan can get along so well there's no reason the Indians and Pakistanis can't get along with each other."

In a breakthrough on the court, they will face US top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in Friday's final.

"I'm really looking forward to the finals against the Bryans," Bopanna said. "To be the best you have to beat the best."

The ambassadors will be back to watch and so will India and Pakistan fans, cheering together for once.

"They're all mixed together sitting in the crowd. You can't tell who is Pakistani and who is Indian," Qureshi said. "That's the beauty about sports. Before our pairing you would never see that in any sports, fighting for one cause. It's really good to be part of it."

Solving political issues between governments is less of a goal than bringing people together.

"We're not looking into any political part or anything to do with whatever is happening," Bopanna said. "If even two or three percent of people say, 'If they can get along why can't we?' that's what we're trying to do."

Qureshi hopes he can change US perceptions regarding Pakistan and the Muslim faith.

"Today was a small step toward (peace)," Qureshi said. "We always said sports can reach places where no religion or politics can reach. I think it's above all the religion and politics.

"The western world and America, they have a very wrong perception about Muslim and Pakistan," he said. "Their perception of Pakistan being a terrorist country is definitely very wrong.

"We do have terrorist groups. We do have extremists. But I feel like (in) every religion there are extremists. It doesn't mean the whole nation is terrorist or extremist.

"The only reason we actually are getting so many terrorist attacks is because we are allies with America and the western world in fighting this cause."

Qureshi, who will also play in Thursday's mixed doubles final with Czech partner Kveta Peschke against Americans Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber, dedicates his efforts to the 21 million flood victims in Pakistan.

In addition to the deluge devastation of the past six weeks has been the disgrace of cricket stars Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, who were suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The three allegedly conspired to deliberately bowl no-balls at specific moments during last month's fourth Test against England at Lord's.

International cricket in Pakistan was effectively suspended following an armed attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore last year.

"Pakistan has been going through a lot from all the terrorist attacks and the flooding now for the last few months and the cricket scandal," Qureshi said. "I'm very happy and proud that I can send positive news back home.

"I just hope I keep winning matches for Pakistan and can get either one of these titles or both titles back home. That would be a great thing."

Pakistan-India peace pair advances to US Open final - Yahoo! News

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India-Pakistan pairing shows anything is possible

By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer
Sep 9, 2010

NEW YORK (AP)—The best measure of what India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi accomplished at the U.S. Open could be found in the stands, not the scoreline.

The doubles team reached the U.S. Open final Wednesday, winning a match that brought the United Nations ambassadors from their long-at-odds countries to Flushing Meadows to sit in the stands together.

The idea of Pakistan and India on the same side of anything has long been considered unlikely. These neighboring countries have been through three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and spent almost all the time between in a state of distrust and heightened military tension.

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“This is sports, but it shows the great potential,” India’s ambassador, Hardeep Puri, told The Associated Press.

The pair’s next match is against top-seeded Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States, the most successful doubles team in history.

Bopanna and Qureshi—who refer to themselves as the “Indo-Pak Express”— came together more for convenience than for message-sending. There’s very little top-level tennis in Pakistan, so to find a partner, Qureshi had to look to his neighboring country.

They started in 2003, played on and off since then. Their story gathered steam earlier this year when they started wearing sweat shirts with slogans reading “Stop War, Start Tennis” as part of a campaign backed by a Monaco-based group called Peace and Sport.

One idea circulating is to play a match with a court set up across the Indian-Pakistan border. Unthinkable? Well, some might say they never thought they’d see the day when ambassadors from the two countries were spending time together in New York taking in a tennis match.

“There’s always the potential,” the Pakistani ambassador, Abdullah H. Haroon, said. “Hardeep and I are in the New York area and we’re always looking for avenues to open and this is a magnificent one. The message going back to Pakistan is, here’s a team seeded 16th, and they’re in the finals for the first time at the U.S. Open. That’s great news.”

Bopanna and Qureshi beat Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-6 (5), 6-4 to move one win away from the championship. It’s their best showing in a Grand Slam after a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon earlier this year. Bopanna and Qureshi won last month against Bryan and Bryan, so they know anything is possible—a point being driven home on many levels by their tennis partnership.

“Obviously, it feels like us doing well is getting the message across throughout the world and among all the Pakistanis and Indians,” Qureshi said. “I’ve always said if me and Rohan can get along so well on and off the court, there’s no reason the Indians and Pakistanis can’t get along with each other.”

Qureshi also is in the mixed doubles final, along with partner Kveta Peschke, giving him two chances to bring some very good news back to his home country, which has been hammered by floods, terrorist attacks and, yes, even a cricket scandal over the past few years.

In addition to spreading a little sunshine back home, Qureshi hopes to use his good run in New York to speak about his country and its majority religion of Islam.

“We do have terrorist groups, we do have extremists, but I feel like every religion there are extremists there,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the whole nation is terrorist or extremist. Pakistan is a peace-loving country. Everybody loves sports. I think everybody wants peace, as well.”

India-Pakistan pairing shows anything is possible - Tennis - Yahoo! Sports