PARIS — After the Indo-Pak Express doubles team of Aisiam Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna swept to the French Open quarters, where they'll again meet the Bob and Mike Bryan, Qureshi told Inside Tennis that he will “stand with my statement” for peace that he made in New York after the duo lost to the BryanBros. in the U.S. Open final.
“For the last 10 to 12 years, the world has been uneasy. [Now] I think it can come back to a real peace and a quiet state all over. For me, Pakistanis are really a very friendly, loving, caring people.”
“The one thing I am really, really concerned about,” he continued, “is the international sports community. I just hope we can start our international events in Pakistan and they can be revised so other countries can come to Pakistan and do sports like cricket, [field] hockey and tennis. I haven’t played a home Davis Cup tie in five years. I hope that can change and the international community can actually feel that Pakistan is safe.”
Now that Osama Bin Laden is dead, IT asked Qureshi to speak as a Pakistani sportsmen to the American people. He replied, “[It would be] the same thing as before. You can’t judge the whole nation on the basis of a few groups…That doesn’t define a whole nation. Pakistan has a population of 160 million people. So just because [there are] a few extremist groups, you can’t name the whole country as a terrorist country. Everyone I know and the people I have grown up with and everyone I sit around with — my cousins, my family members, everybody — they want peace in this world. I like everybody — Americans and the Europeans. I just hope the international community can understand that and hopefully this world can be a better place all over.”
Qureshi says his prime goal is “to put Pakistan back on the sports map. It has been away for more than five years. It’s not just tennis — every other sport has been affected. We're not getting any international [events]…It’s sad and I hope that we can take a step somewhere to revise sports in Pakistan.”
As for the possibility of his winning the French Open doubles title with his Indian partner, Qureshi said, “For Pakistan’s image, it would go a long way. If it happens, the Pakistanis would obviously be very proud…[Now] for the first time in the history of the French Open, there's a Pakistani flag in the quarterfinals.”
As for all the attention the Indo-Pak Express is getting, Qureshi told ESPN, “It’s great we have two countries supporting one team. Where do you find that ever happening? You never have that around the world…It’s fantastic. Already, we have a billion people in India and millions in Pakistan…and it is great to have in the crowd [both] Pakistanis and Indians.”
As for progress on “the borders match” – an exhibition Qureshi and Bopanna have envisioned playing on the Indian-Pakistan border to promote peace between the rival nations – Qureshi said, “It’s going great. The president of the [Pakistani Tennis] Federation is almost the righthand man for the Prime Minister, and he has put the letters and everything [about the exhibition] on his agenda. But, obviously, with all the Bin Laden [developments], there are more important things Pakistan has to worry about right now. But I think we're on the right track, and this year or the next year, it’s going to happen — definitely. I'm very positive about it.”
