Blind football represents hope and belonging for Egypt's one million visually impaired. [...] Globally, blind football's star is rising rapidly. Since the 1980s, when the first five-a-side national championships took place in Brazil and Spain, the sport has spread to dozens of countries. In 1997, Europe and North America held the first continental championships, followed by the first blind football world championship a year later. In 2004, it became a summer Paralympic sport.

With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) set to have chosen Paris over Los Angeles as the site for the 2024 Olympics, it is timely to ask: Is hosting the Olympics good for a nation’s brand, and do they provide a good financial return on investment? [...] He also noted that the concept of nation-branding pervaded China’s handling of the 2008 Beijing games. “In China their goal was broad recognition as a leader on the global stage.” He said that China was largely successful, but that in terms of political reputation, the country was thrown into a negative light.

Paralympian Abdi Jama has two ambitions at the forefront of his mind. Firstly, the wheelchair basketball player wants to get selected for Team GB’s squad for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. [...]  Jama hopes to inspire more disabled athletes to get active in his native Somalia. 

The State Department’s Sports Envoy program will pair Paralympic gold medalist and reigning Chicago marathon champion Josh George with Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix for a week-long series of clinics and engagements in Rio de Janeiro from November 4-8.

The roar of the crowd as the British contingent entered the track on Wednesday sent shivers down my spine. Eighty thousand people erupted as the athletes wove their way through the brightly colored dancers, showered in camera flashes and always under the watchful eye of Queen Elizabeth II.