Pakistan tennis touches new heights-thankyou Aisam!

Thank you, Aisam, for giving us a reason to read ‘real’ sports news for a change.

Yes!September 2010 will be remembered in the history of Pakistan for a long time. Pakistan tennis touched new heights during this month. Aisamul Haq Qureshi put Pakistan’s flag on top of the world when he first, partnering with Czech player Kveta Peschke, reached the mixed doubles final and later with India’s Rohan Bopana qualified for the men’s doubles final of the US Open in New York. Though Aisam lost both the finals, but he showed to the world that Pakistan has the potential to become a new tennis force to be reckoned with. Tennis tends to slip under the radar in cricket-mad Pakistan but Aisam has raised the sport’s profile by breaking new ground for his country with his dazzling and brilliant performance at the US Open.
Fans, relatives and tennis officials gave Pakistan's first Grand Slam finalist a hero's homecoming on Wednesday, hailing him a peacemaker and a role model. Brought up in a system that teaches us how to be selfish individuals, Aisam chose to play doubles at the international level. Brought up in a country where mindless hatred against India flourishes, Aisam paired up with an Indian player and showed how absurd our biases are. In 2002, he faced the wrath of his countrymen and national tennis federation for partnering Israel’s Amir Hadad in the doubles event at Wimbledon and the US Open. He was also criticized when he started his current doubles partnership with India’s Rohan three years ago, but Aisam remains unbowed by any negativity and has always maintained that sport was above caste, creed or politics. After the final match, holding the US Open’s runners-up shield, when he could easily have been overwhelmed by his own achievement, he said to the world in the most humble manner what no celebrity or envoy has been able to convey:

"Every time I come here, I feel that there’s a very wrong perception about Pakistan being a terrorist country. We are very friendly, loving and caring people and we want peace in this world as much as you guys want and may Allah bless us all."

Indeed he is a man who is making Pakistan proud so let's put our hands together for the man who is already Pakistan’s most successful tennis player in history.

*well done Aisam we are proud of you*