February 7, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 5,1423

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LONDON, Feb 6: Israel’s Amir Hadad and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi scooped a humanitarian award for their on-court tennis partnership on Thursday.

The pair were chosen by the organisers of men’s tennis for the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.

“During a summer when fear and hatred garnered much of the headlines, Amir and Aisam-ul-Haq provided much needed relief with their simple message about tolerance through tennis,” ATP chief Mark Miles said.

At Wimbledon last year, Hadad and Qureshi initially thought little of their decision to team up for the first time to play doubles.

But set against the backdrop of Jewish-Islamic tensions in the Middle East and the global war on terrorism, Hadad and Qureshi’s partnership — they reached the third round at Wimbledon and also played at the U.S. Open — proved inspirational.

Although he never intended to make a political statement with the choice of his doubles partner, Hadad said that they had delivered a positive message.—Reuters