Day of Treats For Sports Lovers In Pakistan - - A Hat-Trick of Victories in Tennis, Cricket And Hockey

What could possibly make a Pakistani fan turn away from a clinical performance by their cricket team, while it’s in progress? The score line of a James Cerritani and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi vs. Marco Chiudinelli and Roger Federer doubles game!

For a moment it almost seemed surreal: Federer in his ‘formal attire,’ a brown Nike jersey with white trim on the collar, wiping the hair off his forehead, with his left hand before bouncing the ball in his trademark style and then serving with body in perfect unison. And the receiver of the serve? For a minute it seemed as if the satellite signal had scrambled and the cable operators had changed the order of the sports channels. But no, it was true. Federer was in fact serving to Pakistan’s Qureshi in the ATP Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel, Switzerland.

That Pakistan were routing New Zealand in the first face-off since the infamous semi-final loss in the Champions Trophy seemed like an afterthought. The fact that Shahid Afridi, having scored 70 off 50 balls, was on a hat-trick after castling Danniel Vettori and trapping Nathan McCullum LBW, didn’t really matter. Because at the same time, Pakistan’s lone hope on the international tennis circuit, Qureshi, along with his American partner Cerretani were leading the Swiss pairing of Federer and Chiudinelli five games to four in the first set. Qureshi had aced into Federer’s body, and to hear the commentator say ‘that’s tremendous serving by the Pakistani,’ was unreal for many reasons.

It’s rare to hear or read the word Pakistan during an ATP tour. That the Pakistani was part of the event in Basel was an achievement itself, keeping in mind that Qureshi funds all his international tours personally. But playing Federer, albeit in a doubles match, was as much a dream come true for the fans as it was perhaps for Qureshi himself. And everyone knows when Federer is playing, the whole world is watching.

The biggest moment, however, came at the end of the match, amidst the joy of a Qureshi/Cerretani 6-4, 6-3 victory. It was surprising. It manifest in the form of a sentiment previously felt, but never at the same magnitude. When Federer and Qureshi shook hands, it seemed in that instant as if Pakistani tennis had been recognised, and that the country had had its much needed ‘positive moment’ on the tennis world stage.

As soon as the match ended, many frenzied phone calls were placed. People who could not articulate what the match itself had meant relied on analogies: ‘just imagine a Pakistani soap artist sharing a set with Al Pacino in a Hollywood movie.’ Comments like, ‘I didn’t know I was capable of such animosity towards Federer,’ were also made by die-hard Pakistani fans of tennis champ. To be fair to the Grand Slam winner, he did look out of sorts sharing the court with someone and not being able to control the fate of the plays. But a loss is nonetheless a loss.

As the initial euphoria from the Qureshi win – more than Pakistan’s victory over New Zealand – was dying down, two magnificent goals by Sohail Abbas propelled Pakistan to a 4-2 win over France in the hockey World Cup qualifiers in Lille, France. It capped an unbelievable day for Pakistan sports with the biggest moments coming from the most unlikely places. Such a hat-trick for Pakistan sports brought back memories of the 1990s when Pakistan ruled the world of cricket, hockey, squash, and snooker. Would it be premature to anticipate more glory days for Pakistan sports?