Tennis latest: Indo-Pak doubles pair receives 2010 Humanitarian of the Year award
The Indo-Pak doubles tennis pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi received the 2010 Humanitarian of the Year award during the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.
The tandem received this award primarily because of their peace message of 'Stop War - Start Tennis’, printed on their shirts while playing tennis on the court. The Indian Davis Cup captain along with his Pakistani partner has been playing with this message
for quite some time on the tour as well as at the highest level of the game, at the Grand Slam tournaments.
Aisam and Bopana, who are commonly known as the peace pair on the tour, rose to prominence after performing brilliantly at the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in September. They stunned everyone by making their way into the final of the doubles
event in New York on the first occasion in their career. In the finals, their dream run at last was ended by the number one pair of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan from the United States of America in close two sets. The final match score was 6-7, 6-7.
Pakistan's number one tennis star, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi has received this award in the past as well when he paired up with Amir Hadad of Israel back in 2002. However, it is the first for the Indian star Bopanna who achieved his career highest doubles ranking
of world number fourteen earlier this month.
"It is a great feeling to be here and presented with this award from our peers and the ATP. I would like to thank my family, friends and Aisam. It's been an emotional and unbelievable year for us. I want to applaud the courage and determination of the people
in India. I hope this award brings reassurance of peace back home," reflected the Indian player after receiving the award in London.
Qureshi commented saying, “It is a great feeling and I would like to thank the ATP for giving us this platform to spread the message of peace throughout the world. For me, it is an unbelievably proud moment."
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