India-Pakistan duo enters Wimbledon quarters


India-Pakistan duo enters Wimbledon quarters

LONDON: Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner India’s Rohan Bopanna will face Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in the Wimbledon quarter-finals after their victory on Tuesday.

The unusual Indian-Pakistani pairing have been going around the All England Club wearing tracksuit tops reading “Stop War, Start Tennis” on the back.

Reaching the quarter-finals is the best-ever Grand Slam performance for either Bopanna or Qureshi.

“When we started out in tennis the tension between India and Pakistan wasn’t something I cared about, I was playing with my friend,” Qureshi told the BBC.

“Over the passage of time, we’ve seen a bigger picture apart from tennis, and it’s about changing people’s views. If we can change even one person’s view, we’ll take it as a positive.

“It’s really nice to see Indians and Pakistanis sitting together supporting one team. You don’t see that anywhere else, in any sport. Our on-court and off-court relationship proves that Indians and Pakistanis can get on fine.”




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