Pakistan tennis ace Aisam-ul-Qureshi's parents played an important role in forming his doubles partnership with India's Bopanna

Bopanna-Aisam partnership encouraged by Pakistani's parents

Pakistan tennis ace Aisam-ul-Qureshi's parents played an important role in forming his doubles partnership with India's Bopanna

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Besides his own parents, India's doubles tennis ace Rohan Bopanna has a couple ofu00a0 more people to thank for his international success with partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. They are Nausheen and Ihtesham-ul-Haq Qureshi, the parents of Aisam along with whom Bopanna clinched an ATP title this year and then made it to his first ever Grand Slam men's doubles final at the US Open, losing to top seeds, the Bryan brothers.

"We always encouraged Aisam and Rohan to play together and we are very proud of what they have achieved for themselves and both countries," Nausheen told MiD DAY here after they witnessed their son beating Uganda's Mugabe Duncan Kasumba 6-2, 7-6 in a Round One singles tie in sweltering heat at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium.

"The first match is always tough. I'm sure he will do well in the next match," said Nausheen, who deserves to take all the credit for introducing Aisam to the game, in which she excelled for nearly a decade.

"I've been the national champion of Pakistan for almost 10 years, while Aisam's grandfather Khwaja Iftekhar Ahmed was the champion of undivided India," said Nausheen, who even today defies her age (which of course she refused to reveal) by representing her employers Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in local tennis tournaments in Pakistan.

As a kid, Aisam was quite a brat earlier on, said his mother. "But suddenly after the age of six, he became very quiet and subdued and has been that way ever since. He was a school swimming champ and even on their hockey, cricket and football teams. But the moment I saw him play tennis, I knew he could excel in the game."

'Down to earth'
It's this humility that has taken the 30-year-old Pakistani places, said his father. "The best part about Aisam is that he is very down to earth. Even today, despite having been the flagbearer of Pakistan tennis for over a decade, he has no fancy craving for fast cars, bikes, or any other luxuries," said Ihtesham of his son, the eldest among three siblings.

However, his quiet nature has given rise to one little problem for the Qureshis. "I'm eagerly waiting for him to get married and settle down in life. He's 30 and I've already given him an ultimatum that he should marry within a year. But he wants me to look for a girl," says Nausheen, immediately clarifying that it won't be another Indo-Pak marriage a la Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik. "All said and done, there are differences in the culture of both countries, so we would prefer a girl from Pakistan only," says Nausheen.

Speak about Bopanna, and there are smiles all around as thoughts of the US Open final come to mind.

"We could not be in the US as it was Ramadan time, but we had a huge celebration back home in Lahore. Our family and friends came over to watch the match and believe it or not there were more people in Pakistan that day watching the tennis final rather than the England vs Pakistan cricket match," said businessman Ihtesham.
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So what happens if the partners face each other on opposite sides of the net here at the CWG? "Whatever the result we will be happy. Even Rohan is like our son," said Nausheen and Ihtesham together.

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