In briefs: Unlikely team has teamed up

Tennis: Amid the national firestorm over a Florida pastor’s plans to burn a Quran on Sept. 11, an event that he suspended on Thursday, and eight miles from the epicenter of the Ground Zero Mosque debate, there is a fascinating story unfolding at the U.S. Open of two tennis players – one a Hindu from India, the other a Muslim from Pakistan – trying to build bridges between their warring nations and change international perceptions of Muslims.

Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (at right in photo), the Pakistani, and Rohan Bopanna (left), the Indian, have reached today’s men’s doubles final against American twins Mike and Bob Bryan.

But their more significant victory took place in the stands of Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York, where Indian and Pakistani fans rooted for the same team.

“Our crowds are getting bigger, and Indians and Pakistanis are all mixed together, and you can’t tell who is Indian and who Pakistani,” Qureshi said. “That’s the beauty about sports.

“I’ve always said there’s no reason if me and Rohan can get along so well on and off the court, there’s no reason the Indians and Pakistanis can’t get along with each other.”

The two men teamed up in 2003 and didn’t make a big deal of their ethnic backgrounds. But the more they won, the more notice they received, and they decided to use the attention for a good cause.

“I feel like the Western world and America, they have a very wrong perception about Muslim and Pakistan,” he said. “We do have terrorist groups, we do have extremists, but I feel like every religion, there are extremists. It doesn’t mean that the whole nation is terrorist or extremist. Pakistan is a very peace-loving country. Everybody loves sports. I think everybody wants peace, as well.”

Miami Herald