Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Reaches Wimbledon Quarterfinals

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian tennis partner, Rohan Bopanna, finally had their run at Wimbledon ended as they were defeated in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Doubles competition by Austrian Juergen Meltzer and German Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. However, in the process, Qureshi did become the first Pakistani ever to reach the quarterfinals of a grand slam tennis event. Two rounds prior to that, Qureshi and Bopanna came out on top of a marathon match with the German-Slovak pair of Philip Marx and Igor Zelenay 6-7(6-8), 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 13-11.

Interestingly, the two doubles partners have become symbols of peace between Pakistan and India, with plans for their own logo, and ambitious plans for an exhibition tennis match to be held directly on the border between the two countries. Qureshi is also a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 40 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Monaco-based international organization Peace and Sport.

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