Doubles team called the “Indo-Pakistan Express”… Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi is from Pakistan. Rohan Bopanna is from India. The two countries have been at war multiple times, but those conflicts haven’t stopped the two tennis players from becoming doubles partners. According to Cincinnati.com, they met in India more than a decade ago as youngsters on the ITF Junior circuit and became friends. In 2003, they began playing as a team, and have since won an ATP World Tour title, along with advancing to four other finals in the last few years.
… becoming known for their warm-ups promoting peace … The Monaco-based Peace and Sport organization “works toward bringing together divided communities worldwide by encouraging dialogue and reconciliation through sport,” and helped Bopanna and Qureshi become much more well known recently. That’s because, during Wimbledon, the pair wore warm-ups that said “Stop War, Start Tennis” on the back, due to their involvement with Peace and Sport. As the New York Times noted, “these partners who set out to become elite players, not international ambassadors of peace, have found that the better they play, the more of a difference they can make. Because of that, they have further embraced their role as doubles diplomats.” Reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon certainly didn’t hurt.
… as well as their ability to bring people together. As the Times noted, in 2007, the pair reached the final at a tournament in Mumbai, India. After watching Pakistan lose to India in a cricket World Cup match, a disappointed Qureshi came onto the court only to see hundreds of people in the stands with “India’s flag on one cheek and Pakistan’s on the other.” As he was quoted, “It’s something I’ll never forget,” adding, “I never expected that we would be able to create such a high.” And, according to the DAWN Media Group, the pair are planning a match on the border of the two countries, in order to promote peace between the two nations, but must wait for approval. One can only hope that approval will come.
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Screengrab by ATPWorldTour via YouTube.