How Aisam can help lift Pakistan tennis
The wonder boy from Lahore has enormous potential to be a catalyst for positive change in national tennis.
By Khalid Hussain
In what was a rare occasion, Pakistan tennis made the headlines last September. Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, the country’s tennis wonder boy, reached the mixed doubles and men’s doubles finals of the US Open. In the process, he gave millions of tennis fans around the world a snapshot of his talents and more importantly sent them this message that Pakistan is not just about bomb explosions.

The failures and devastation in Pakistan cricket has been, if anything, even greater than the racism torn Zimbabwe, and the two are inextricably inter-twined.

With seven of their players (three provisionally suspended and four named being on board with the bookmakers) and ICC’s coming back to consciousness, it seems that Ijaz Butt has eventually eroded the last straw of hope in Pakistan Cricket.

ICC’s Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat categorically showed his concerns by stating in an interview to the BBC that he’ll be a disappointed man if the tribunal didn’t find the three provisionally suspended Pakistan players guilty. It was a statement that wasn’t expected from Lorgat, serving international cricket in a position of responsibility, however that could have been his own view; of course he isn’t infallible.

Second the trust deficit between the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ICC since a plethora of investigating and judicial inquiries recommended strict actions against several players including Wasim Akram et al and still most of them returned to international cricket. ICC since 2000 formulated their Anti Corruption Unit and they like a pendulum swung to and fro without even getting close to marginalizing corruption in cricket.

Ijaz Butt recently frustrated them with his U-turns and incapacity to control the heightening distress in the Pakistan team. ICC, not really cricket’s governing but a non-profit regulatory body was seemingly irked not because of the regularity of events and episodes of spot-fixing or possible manipulation of match results but more due to the slinking of youthful callow players into the oblivious darkened world of corruption.

Cricket’s integrity has seriously been jeopardised. By contrast, if the three players are penalised or suspended from international cricket by the ICC tribunal, too little would have still been done to address vital disciplinary needs.

ICC in case had been out rightly partial or biased would have admonished the players as they had restricted (unofficially and unannounced) Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria’s careers or they could have suspended Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir in accordance with their Anti Corruption Code of Conduct clauses 2, 3 and 6. No tribunal was required, not even the players given space to pursue the case made against them; accusations and a half-baked circumstantial evidence weren’t really their need; it was actually their constraints being a regulatory body dependent for income plus the vetoing power of the ten full members (2 votes each) and 95 associate/affiliate members (1 vote each) and their loose geographical links in addition to the aspersions and scepticism about a wedge between Asia and the West. Had ICC been sterner, they would have been grilled by the tendency of the 180 million people of Pakistan and their beliefs about racism and the White Vs Black disparity. It is still interesting that Lorgat could be as incisive as he was on December 4th, 2010.

But most ironic, in the age of sting operations and modernized gadgetry, the ICC had still been part of not living off the past ideas they had been counting on evidences collected by the tabloids (News of the World and The Daily Sun). Underlying many of these mistakes was an excessive zeal in marginalising or exterminating match-fixing and corruption in cricket. ICC, until 2009-2010 had let problems go out of control probably fearful of the loose links between the full members and of course not readily prepared to jeopardize the corporate sector eager to invest in international cricket through merchandize, direct and indirect sponsorships and television rights; once the lid was blown off at Lord’s on August 27th, 2010, and PCB’s top-tier stood like numbskulls, it was left to them to step in to take charge; they did exactly that.

ICC by provisionally suspending the three Pakistan players weren’t actually keen to disrupt their careers but they had to deal with the risks associated with international cricket’s health and issues pertaining to its image and integrity. I feel, ICC has been condemned unnecessarily for a pre-conceived bias and also because of their compromised presence, borrowing investments (World Cups, I.C.C. Champions Trophy and the Twenty20 World Cup), their government’s legislative framework, the Code of Conducts, recognising the liabilities (supporting proliferation of cricket to restore its global image and also to finance affiliate and associate members) but took no account of the incapacities and fallibilities of the boards like the PCB; they did try enforcing rationality through a hastily assembled Task Force but it also had on it indecisive people like Ramiz Raja; why couldn’t they stir any one of the full members to submit a resolution to suspend Ijaz Butt’s directorship of the ICC it should be taken as done if such a resolution is moved, he would be gone, voted out thus reprieving Pakistan cricket, avoiding further tumult and destruction; but this option is most unlikely unless the BCCI or the BCB or BCCSL is further irked and pestered by PCB’s nonsensical foreign policy that has had damning effects on cricket in the region. Why couldn’t the Asian Cricket Council stand up to Ijaz Butt’s idiocies?

We have argued relentlessly for a down-sized more professional PCB, less expenditure stern and an unbiased implementations of their Code of Conduct, zero-tolerance to indiscipline, less anachronism and the desperate need of Ijaz Butt’s regime to be ousted; nothing happened.

The presumption is that Ijaz Butt’s government is inevitably inefficient. Even if there were problems, their inability inevitably made matters worse; the best course is accordingly simply leave hardcore professionals to work freely. The issue is, is this waste and inefficiency inevitable?

I’m sure that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, even if they had committed the crime would have been saved had PCB’s Chairman Ijaz Butt and their allegedly overrated Legal Advisor Taffazul Rizvi shown little nous and moral courage to give solutions to the problem instead of a constant shameless hiding in England end August 2010.

Critiques abhorred the wastefulness of various opportunities and the inefficiency of PCB’s top-tier -- and we haven’t actually tried doing something about the issue, partly because we believed that unless we could convince ourselves that the players weren’t guilty, and partly because we lost international support primarily because of our own buffooneries. While we have railed against Ijaz Butt’s government, still we haven’t been able to oust him.

I believe, we have to admit that Ijaz Butt is more shameless or powerful that all of us (the critiques and external stakeholders) so it’s high time that we should at least initiate a combined campaign against him and his regime, not in order to tear down his government, but to reaffirm its exact role-just in defence of Pakistan cricket’s integrity, but in promoting means to an end, providing constructive criticism and ready solutions, and pleading and requesting the Patron to have mercy on us.

And Ijaz Butt could still rebut us by showing that government could be efficient and innovative, and hope that there would be a renewed support for him, and for those endeavours which lie within his responsibilities. Not only Alice but we all live in the wonderland? I end not being explicitly optimistic but completely paranoid and wrecked by Ijaz Butt’s incessant failures and absolute extermination of Pakistan’s cricket.

naumanniaz@hotmail.com

I have exhausted any hope of the PCB taking note of the mess it continues to make. To make matters worse it has now begun inflicting puerile statements of its officials upon us about turning ‘the team around’. I thus felt that time might be better used by a trip down memory lane to divert and entertain the purist readers. Cricket commentary can make the listening or watching of cricket into one of life’s great pleasures or alternatively into a miserable experience.

Whilst judgment of this does depend upon individual preferences my survey from people of various ages indicates a broad agreement with the views expressed below. The survey was conducted amongst conservative cricket lovers including those old enough to remember the days when we only had the facility to listen to commentary on the radio. I must at the outset confess of a secret ambition to have commentated on this game. It is a significant fact that in the days before television the best known and loved commentators were mainly not top level players. They were individuals who had a great love and understanding of the game, a command of the language and facility of such vivid description that one felt transported into the ground.

Their ability to describe events on and around the field not only provided facts and statistics on the game in progress but also the atmosphere, colour, feelings and emotions of the players and the spectators. Whilst technology has helped us to get a grand stand view on the game today on television, sadly we have lost some of the spirit of yesteryear.

Let me recount for the readers some of the greats in this art form of cricket communication. I can fondly remember the lugubrious brogue voice of the great John Arlott describing an exquisite cover drive by Colin Cowdrey, the power and timing of a shot by Ted Dexter or detailing the bowling actions of Wesley Hall and Fred Trueman. One could picture these moments through the words of the commentator. He was amongst the greater ones of an era that boasted of Rex Alston, John Woodcock, E.W. Swanton, Brian Johnston, Henry Blofeld, Tony Cozier our own Jimmy Marker and the great late ‘Omo’ Qureshi. Not to forget Puspati Vijayand Gajpathi Raju, Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram of India or ‘Vizzy’ as he was more popularly known.

I hope I will get the readers to agree that these most talented people made up in many ways for the lack of a visual presentation of the matches they commentated on. It may be recalled that rain interruptions brought out the best efforts from these greats. On one occasion John Arlott spoke for twenty minutes just describing the covers being removed and held all the listeners totally enthralled. Then again we had the inimitable Henry Blofeld who just had to give you the entire action on and off the ground and thus often went on eloquently about the ‘red buses going over the hill’ once adding about a fellow commentator that ‘his commentary must be submitted and pre approved to broadcast next time or we will stay on the bus’.

Who can forget Henry’s description of the cranes (birds) at the Oval in the words ‘swooping down looking like subservient wine waiters’? He had people laughing for years about his comment about Harbhajan Singh’s pre delivery wrist exercises when he said, ‘I cannot see what Harbhajan is doing between his balls’. In the same humour one of the great descriptions which Brian Johnston made were during a Test between England and West Indies at the Oval when he described, ‘the bowler’s Holding the batsmen’s Wlley (Peter Willey was England’s number 6 batsman) and could have added "with John in the slips his legs apart waiting for a tickle".

To me it is sad that the advent of television has for inexplicable reasons shifted the trend from great commentators to great players taking over the commentary. The quality of the player has been given preference over the quality of the commentator. This is not to say that some of the great players are not equally good at this trade but the commentary box has become a bit of a ‘club’ with cricketers supporting and promoting each other on the basis of ‘jobs for the boys’. Regrettably this has lowered commentary standards. One wonders whether this was led by a belief of the broadcasters that it improves ratings. From where I opine the jury is still out on that. Amongst the all time greats in the business of commentary some cricketers more than hold their own.

The lead amongst these is Richie Benaud closely followed by Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Holding, Ian Chapell and Sunny Gavaskar. Most of the ‘cricketer commentators’ tend to describe the picture in great detail forgetting that it is visible and that they should really be talking around the picture. Being professional cricketers themselves they are keen to talk about the more technical details which at times begins to pall. Not all of them have the eye of a good coach yet they wax eloquent about the techniques of the cricketers on the field. This is fine for those who have this skill but some like our own Ramiz Raja tend to forget which player he praised for having good technique and whom he did not. This tends to vary from shot to shot. Presumably he hopes that the watcher and listener have also forgotten. His use or rather misuse of cricket idiomatic terms is found amusing by his fellow commentators.

The one quality that is common amongst all the greats is confidence in their own ability which prevents them from trying too hard to be all things to people. Amongst other commentators from Pakistan who deserve mention are Chisty Mujahid and Iftikhar Ahmad. To my mind they were both competent in this task. Chisty to my view had greater knowledge and understanding of the game and was thus the abler of the two. ‘Ifti’s’ descriptive skills were better and I must add that the public gave the edge to Ifti. His description of Miandad’s winning six against India in Sharjah may have tilted the balance. Maybe the emotions attached to winning of the game contributed to this but the description and the feelings expressed by Ifti were impressive.

Fifteen years ago I predicted that by 2010 England would be the strongest team in the world. It was a bold forecast, since they have not claimed the top spot since Len Hutton was taking the shine off the new ball, Frank Tyson was terrorising batsmen and Jim Laker was outwitting them. And it has proved premature. England are not yet top of the tree but are climbing fast and showing no signs of vertigo.

Several factors lay behind the predication. England’s main advantage is that for historical reasons most of its incoming populations are familiar with the game, if not devoted to it. Alone among the colonial powers England took its sports with them and sought to convince locals of their merits. Of course they argued that the games were character-building and so had an educational value. It was arrant nonsense. Englishmen of a certain sort have long tried to pretend that they are above all this nonsense. The poor dears spent too long fielding at third man in house matches and never quite recovered. Accordingly they became snooty and pseudo-intellectual and wasted their lives writing for obscure magazines.

Of all the cricketing countries, though, New Zealand is the most literate, with Australia not far behind. It is a meter of record. England is the most obsessed with sport. As much can be told from its cheerful following overseas and the number of reporters sent to cover matches, and at no little cost. England’s failures have not reflected any lack of interest. Just that the emphasis was on quantity not quality.

But the influence of the immigrant populations has been crucial. At the last count about 150 foreign-born players had secured county contracts. And that does not count fellows like Monty Panesar, born and bred locally but into a Punjabi family. His ancestors come from Ludhiana, a teeming city not far from Chandigarh.

Thanks partly to European labour laws most of these players counted as locals. As a result English cricket became ever more diverse. Although fewer of the giants of the game signed on -- considerably to the disadvantage of West Indian and eventually Australian cricket -- as the international season spread and the IPL offered an alternative revenue stream the county books still bulged with all sorts. Football did not break the supply chain; Gary Neville, a promising batsman, was lost to the game but others stayed with bat and ball.

Long ago England depended on the aristocracy and the mines for cricketers. Both instilled strength, identity and purpose. Douglas Jardine and Harold Larwood. Ted Dexter and Fred Trueman reflected this curious and effective partnership. Eventually the empire ended and private schools were no longer called upon to train leaders. Finally the mines became uneconomical and the towns changed and the cricket clubs and brass bands faltered. English cricket had to look elsewhere.

Over the next 25 years it was unable to develop reliable new sources of talent. Nor were existing coaches and structures well placed to fill the gap. Television provided the money but the community remained inward-looking. County cricket became self-indulgent, with arranged declarations, lob bowling and other cynicisms creeping in. Inevitably the national team fell back. It is the product of the system, not it’s saviour.

And then two important things happened. Astute appointments were made off the field. Huw Morris was plucked from Welsh cricket and invited to run the game. Meanwhile, four-day cricket had been introduced and the importance of central contracts was recognised. Money filtered through to the counties and, though much of it was wasted, the rewards for players rose. County cricket became an attractive proposition. And the uncertainties of the new South Africa meant that many frustrated and dedicated players were seeking greener pastures.

England’s success has been due to its ability to make the most of these various influences. Africa arrived with its rigour. Four of the top seven team members were born on that continent. Two of them were imports but England could hardly turn them away. Two were raised locally but brought with them the harder outlook required to survive in raw places. Those convinced that their place of birth is a coincidence are defying a mathematical certainty. Incidentally David Gower and Derek Pringle (the most underestimated of the English scribes) are also sons of Africa.

Next, England had the sense to choose another African, Andy Flower, as coach. Flower is tough, respected and measured, exactly the combination needed to get the best out of an ambitious team. Every player could respond to him. Hs task was not to harden the team but to bring out its hidden strengths. Neither England nor its cricketers had ever been soft. No one ever accused them of that. The island story tells quite another tale. Just that they had lacked leadership. But a culture can become self-indulgent without realising it and then an outside voice is essential.

England’s other fortune has been that past players began to produce sons. Cricket has always been a game handed down the generations. Now an entire county side could be fielded from the offspring of the previous generation of first class cricketers. Three of them -- Ryan Sidebottom, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad -- have joined the highest ranks. Considering the investment, English cricket still is not producing enough players of its own but cricketing families are playing their part. If England stays on track then the coaches will be forced to respond. Already counties are trying harder than ever to instil a work ethic in their charges.

Happily, too, New England has brought a new breed of cricketers. There is brightness about Graeme Swann and Broad that appeals whilst Alastair Cook belongs to an older tradition, the phlegmatic farmer who can survive the elements and the worst Australians can throw at him.

It all bodes well. Add the insightful comments made by past captains like Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton and the doughty work done by Graham Gooch and it is abundantly clear that England is intent on making the best of the resources at its disposal. The cricket community has cast aside its wanton ways and embraced hardness and intelligence.

Meanwhile the Australians are alarmed by the flaws exposed in their players and the system that produced them. As a rule Australians respond strongly to defeat. It is not to be tolerated. Most likely they will go back to basics by reinforcing grade and Shield cricket. Older hands in England will recognise the signs of distress.

After a long period England are back on track. Australia’s problems have just begun. The first and last wickets in Adelaide told the story. Two middle-aged Australian players lost in a confusion of calls as an Africa-raised opponent, previously regarded as a commonplace fieldsman, seized the chance and threw down the single stump in his sights. A few days later the home team’s incompetent tailender was baffled and beaten by an off-break that curled away and turned back between bat and pad.

This was not merely a battle between 4th and 5th nor yet between long-standing opponents or between north and south. It was a contest between rising and falling, young and aged, ambitious and anxious, expectant and hopeful, ruthless and delusional. For the first time in decades, Australia were the older and weaker side.

But England have not achieved their highest ambition. Nothing less than top place on the list will do. Long ago Australians stopped using England as their yardstick. It’s time for the Poms to repay the compliment. Doubtless, trouncing Australia is satisfying but it cannot be enough. The rugged pursuit of excellence knows no such halfway house.

England’s performance in Adelaide was the best seen from them in a quarter of a century. Although blessed with more talent, the 2005 outfit did not attain the sustained efficiency observed in the city of churches. From the sporting perspective it was superb to watch. But it ought to be a beginning and not an end, an inspiration not a celebration. England cannot rest till the top position has been secured. And that might require the cooperation of a group yet to pull its weight in the endeavour. That prediction was flawed. Back then it seemed obvious that the settler families from the West Indies would have a major part to play in the reformation of English cricket. So far that has not been the case.

English cricket still has a little way to travel. Of all games cricket is the most diverse, and ought to shout it from the roof tops. In a few nations it embraces white, black and brown, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian, colonial, post-colonial and anti-colonial, first and third world. All the more reason to excite the local Caribbean community so that their contribution is not wasted and English cricket becomes not merely an example of excellence but also a means of unification. --Cricinfo

In what was a rare occasion, Pakistan tennis made the headlines last September. Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, the country’s tennis wonder boy, reached the mixed doubles and men’s doubles finals of the US Open. In the process, he gave millions of tennis fans around the world a snapshot of his talents and more importantly sent them this message that Pakistan is not just about bomb explosions.

An optimist, I hoped that Aisam’s exploits will give Pakistan tennis the sort of boost it has always so desperately needed. I still do.

But so far, we have been unable to capitalise on the fact that at the moment Aisam is a part of an elite list of our sporting heroes. In fact, he is the only one in that list who is not a cricketer.

It’s time that Pakistan’s tennis chiefs begin a drive, with Aisam as its face, to lift the sport to a new level. For years tennis has languished as a minor sport in Pakistan, way behind the massively popular game of cricket.

Over the years, it has just attracted minimal number of tennis fans, most of whom are either friends or family of the players.

Tennis should have done better in a country where sports, not just cricket, is a passion.

Pakistan should take cue from India, where over the years tennis has almost graduated to becoming the number two sport of that country, just behind cricket.

Players like Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes have played a huge role in taking Indian tennis to the level where it has, according to many sports writers in India, overtaken hockey – the country’s national game. In recent times, the pin-up girl of Indian tennis – Sania Mirza – has given the sport’s popularity another shot in the arm.

The thing is that for any sport to progress especially in our part of the world where most people tend to follow individuals rather the game itself, you need heroes.

One of the biggest reasons why cricket remains our national pastime is because we have always produced crowd-pullers from yesteryear’s Hanif Mohammad to today’s Shahid Afridi. There have always been big names like Fazal Mehmood, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram.

Unlike cricket, hockey completely fell apart because it ceased to produce stars. With the only exception of Shahbaz Ahmed and to some extent Sohail Abbas, Pakistan haven’t produced any hockey-playing heroes in the last two decades. Hockey, which till the early eighties rivalled cricket in terms of popularity, is now lagging far behind cricket.

Tennis, too, has lacked stars. There have been players like Haroon Rahim, Saeed Hai, Saeed Mir and Rashid Malik but neither of them could become a crowd-puller.

Aisam, however, is a different story.

He has all the ingredients to be a mega star. Aisam is still just 30, has the looks and is impressively articulate. More importantly, he is good enough to win a Grand Slam doubles title. The way he and doubles partner Rohan Bopanna played throughout this year, my prediction would be that they will finally win a Grand Slam crown in 2011.

What Pakistan’s tennis chiefs need to do is to use his star power for the benefit of this great sport in our country.

It’s not rocket science.

What the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) immediately needs is a concrete plan. PTF chiefs should sit down with all stake-holders and come out with a strategy aimed at the development and promotion of Pakistan tennis. This could be done by the end of this month, allowing the PTF to start implementing it in the New Year.

My suggestion would be rope in Aisam. He could be the face of the campaign, a world-class player who can inspire youngsters to work harder and excel in their game. He could attract newcomers which is very important because what Pakistan tennis desperately needs is a broader base. You can’t turn it into a major sport as long as there are just a few dozen active players on the domestic circuit.

Aisam should be holding brief coaching clinics and camps in different centres of the country every now and then. Off course, they have to be organised by the PTF through its various units. To pay for them, the PTF should try roping in corporate sponsorship. As a youth icon, Aisam has a sizeable following and I’m sure many sponsors would like to be on board.

A healthy grant from the government would be great to initiate the campaign but at the end of the day, PTF will have to market tennis properly to turn it into a sellable product. That’s the only step that could guarantee sustainable growth.

Tennis cannot and should not suffer any more. It’s a major sport across the globe and should be treated like one in our country. And with a player of Aisam’s class available to make that happen, not doing anything about it would be a crime.

Khalid Hussain is Editor Sports of The News, Karachi

khalidhraj@gmail.com

Pakistan’s tennis sensation Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi is upbeat about his chances of breaking into World top 10 in doubles rankings. Equally important for him is his goal to be an ambassador of peace and wants to help lift Pakistan’s image as a peaceful nation.

These are Aisam’s resolutions for the New Year.

"The year 2010 had been a highly successful year for me," he told ‘The News on Sunday’ in an interview. "But I am determined to be even more successful in 2011," Aisam stressed.

Aisam was at the summit of his career as a tennis professional in 2010.

He reached two Grand Slam finals and a quarter-final. Off the court, he was hailed as an ambassador of peace and won a couple of prestigious awards. He became the honorary ambassador of Aman ki Asha and is also an ambassador of UNDP.

Aisam has earned fame by lifting the image of Pakistan and spreading the message of peace particularly "Stop War, Start Tennis". Aisam and his Indian doubles partner Rohan Bopanna are now fondly known as the ‘Indo-Pak Express’ as they have been making waves all over the tennis world. Their efforts and slogan, "Stop War, Start Tennis" has recently earned them the prestigious Arthur Ashe award.

"The condition of Muslim nations especially Pakistan has been deteriorating and I consider it my duty to convey a soft image of our country and religion to the world. It has been an honour for me to be able to work for the betterment of the image of Pakistan and I would continue to do so it in future as well," Aisam said.

According to Aisam, every Pakistani with an access to the outer world is an ambassador of the country and it is his or her duty to project a soft image of our motherland.

"Every Pakistani, though it be sportspeople, actors or politicians have a responsibility. They should try to lift the image of the country, which has been wrongly shown to the world as a breeding place for extremism. We need to lift the image of our country from every platform we could reach. We are a peace loving nation and we should reach the people of the world with the message of peace," he said.

In spite of his ambitions off the court, Aisam is keeping his eyes on the ball. He wants to improve his world ranking in 2011 and more importantly wants to finally win his maiden Grand Slam crown.

Aisam along with Bonappa, reached the final of the US Open men’s doubles and also made it to the mixed doubles final along with Czech partner Kveta Peschke.

"My current doubles ranking is 18 right now. But I would try to better it in 2011 and I am optimistic of breaking into the World top 10," Aisam said. "More importantly, one of my biggest goals is to win a Grand Slam title next year."

Meanwhile, Aisam is also ready to help Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) in lifting the game of tennis in the country.

"I have recently met with the newly appointed PTF president Kaleem Imam and he is very eager to lift the game of tennis in our country. I told him that I would try to help him in his endeavours as much as I could," he signed off.

Tennis ace and Aman ki Asha ambassador Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his father Ihtisham-ul-Haq were sitting quietly in the domestic departures lounge at Benazir Bhutto Airport, Islamabad, waiting for their connecting flight to Lahore. They had just landed from Paris, after a trip in which Aisam had collected two major honours.

In London, he and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award at a grand ceremony on Nov 26 -- Aisam is the first person to have received this coveted award twice.

A few days later, they were in Monaco where Prince Albert of Monaco and Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport Foundation, awarded them the 2010 Grand Prix of Peace and Sports at the fourth International Forum Peace and Sport on December 2, in recognition of their efforts to promote peaceful relations between India and Pakistan.

Aisam and Rohan have popurlarised the message of "Stop War, Start Tennis". The award citation said, "Their commitment to promoting peace between the two countries and their conviction that peace was possible was shown amply during the year. In the US tournament they managed to bring together the ambassadors of India and Pakistan to support the same team."

Bopanna expressed his feelings via his twitter account, "Was a fantastic Gala dinner last night and was really happy to have won the Image of the year award. Really an honor to sit in the same table for dinner as the Excellency Prince Albert."

In Islamabad, the newly elected President of the Pakistan Tennis Federation, Kaleem Imam (who is also IG Police, Islamabad) called to congratulate him. He also drove to meet the tennis ace at the airport with Col (retd) Asif Dar, Senior Vice President of PTF, Maj. (retd) Rashid Khan, former Secretary PTF, and Beena Sarwar, Editor Special Projects Jang Group.

Imam also got the Qureshis to be escorted to the airport’s VIP lounge, where he met them and presented Aisam with flowers and a cake. Among other things, they discussed a proposed exhibition match in Dubai that the ‘Indo-Pak Express’ have offered to play as a fundraiser for survivors of the devastating floods in Pakistan, under the banner of Aman ki Asha.