By Our Correspondent
KARACHI: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna were unable to qualify for the Year-End Masters by the narrowest of margins after they failed in Paris last month.
But off the court, Pakistan’s tennis ace turned out to be an all out winner.
Aisam, who returned home on Saturday, received two major awards in London and Paris for his commitment to spreading the message of peace.
On his current tour, Aisam was awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award 2010. He is the first person in the award’s 23 year history to be honoured twice. In 2003, Aisam was presented with this award for his stance that sports and politics/religion should not be mixed.
Last month, in front of 5000 fans at the O2 Arena in London, Aisam – an Ambassador of Aman ki Asha – was given this award for his ‘Stop War, Start Tennis’ initiative that aims to spread the message of peace between India and Pakistan through tennis.
After receiving this award in London, Aisam went to Paris, where he was invited to attend a grand ball hosted by Prince Albert of Monaco.
Earlier this year, Aisam and Rohan were given the title of ‘Champions of Peace’ by the Monaco-based Peace and Sport Organisation, of which the Prince is chief patron. Later, they won the award for ‘Peace image of the year’ when their doubles match at the US Open Finals brought together the Pakistani and Indian Ambassadors to the United Nations.
Prince Albert presented Aisam and Rohan with this award at an event at which over 500 high profile delegates from around the world were present.
Guests at the event included Royal families from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states, high-level diplomats, various national Olympic Association representatives, United Nations representatives and other international delegates including Pakistan’s Deputy Head of Mission to France, Rafiuzzaman Siddiqui, who represented the Government of Pakistan.
Aisam is in Pakistan for a few weeks in December, before departing for the new ATP season early next year.
