Bopanna-Qureshi combo hailed as “ambassadors of peace” by western media

ISLAMABAD - The tennis duo comprising India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi has been receiving accolades from the western media for their humanitarian goals and bringing the two countries closer.

Terming the tennis combo of Bopanna and Qureshi 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.

“The tennis players, the Indo-Pak Express, are also sending a political message,” noted America’s largest radio network, National Public Radio.

Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper pointed out how the men’s doubles semi-final at the US Open “attracted an unusual pair of spectators: ambassadors from Pakistan and India, sitting together, cheering for the same team.”

“It was a rare display of friendship between countries whose officials still have difficulty talking to each other, making their victory a double success for the players — one from India, the other from Pakistan — who use their growing fame to campaign for peace,” it noted.

The unlikely pairing of an Indian and a Pakistani at the highest level of tennis had captured the imagination around the world and fostered a growing feeling that their success could help improve understanding between the two nuclear nations with a long and bloody history of acrimony, CNN noted.

India’s sports minister M.S. Gill also questioned in a statement that “if Bopanna-Qureshi can play together, why cannot India and Pakistan?” after the tennis duo won the semi-finals against the Argentine pair Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zaballos on Wednesday.

Qureshi also felt that before his pairing with Bopanna, the two countries had never fought “for one cause” in any sport, and that “sports can reach places where no religion or politics can. If you can change a few people’s minds on the Indian or Pakistan side, I think it’s a great thing.”

Bopanna is ranked 58th in doubles while Aisam is ranked 67th, and together they won four Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger titles last year and ended runners-up at the US Open, where they lost to the Bryan brothers. (ANI)