Sat, Sep 11 10 10:37 AM
New York, Sep 11 (PTI) They lost their maiden Grand Slam final but the Indo-Pakistani team of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi scored an emotional winner by leaving even their opponents "choked" with their message of peace on the eve of the 9/11 terror attacks'' ninth anniversary. Bopanna and Qureshi, who managed to tug at heartstrings here with their message of ''Stop War and Start Tennis, lost 6-7 (5) 6-7 (4) to top-seeded American brothers Mike and Bob Bryan in the US Open men''s doubles final yesterday. Their message, however, had such emotional resonance that the Bryans said they would have been happy to root for their 16th seeded rivals had it not been a Grand Slam final. "We would have been rooting for them. Great guys. It''s great to see another marquee team out there. They''re gonna gather a lot of attention for doubles. They''re going to be spokesmen for doubles, which we love. I think this is gonna raise the profile," said Bob. "It choked me up. I could see him (Qureshi); he was quivering a little bit; he was very choked up. Just to give that message to everyone was very heartfelt. You know, even said before, he''s like, I''m gonna say something about Pakistan. I hope you don''t mind. I don''t want to steal your limelight. We said, That''s great," he added. Bopanna and Qureshi played the US Open final on the eve of the ninth anniversary 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington which killed thousands. Just like the semifinals, the United Nations ambassadors from India (Hardeep Suri) and Pakistan (Abdullah H Haroon) sat together in the stands to cheer for the duo nicknamed the ''Indo-Pak Express''. Bopanna said both he and Qureshi were thankful to the two dignitaries for turning up at the match. "I mean we are just thankful they came out for us, they encouraged us and were very appreciative towards our efforts, they took time out to watch us in the Semis and the Finals and they sat together and cheered for us which is great, unfortunately we couldn''t win," said the Indian Davis Cupper. Bopanna and Qureshi also thanked fans from their respective countries for supporting them through their campaign. .
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