KARACHI: India's Rohan Bopanna was full of praise for his former doubles partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan.

The pair, dubbed as the "Indo-Pak Express", went their separate ways in December 2011 after Bopanna decided to team up with his current partner Mahesh Bhupathi of India in order to prepare for the London Olympics.

Bopanna said Qureshi was one of the finest people.

"All I can say playing with him is a great pleasure. Sports blurs boundaries, nationalities and religion," PTI quoted Bopanna as saying.

The duo promoted peace between Pakistan and India and it came as a surprise to many to see them both playing together. However, there was no agenda behind it, Bopanna said.

"We definitely had no agenda nor we started as a peace messenger, we met on the tour and started playing and became good friends," he said.

Bopanna, whom Qureshi called his "best mate on tour", said that their common language brought them together which led to them eventually becoming doubles partners.

"Tennis is very lonely. On the tour American, Chinese, French etc. usually move together. Both of us were lonely, started talking on the tour and the common language helped us."