The political agency of sports is often downplayed in popular conversation, if not totally ruled out. [...] Championing the team aspect of sports culture, athletic organizations have historically found a political voice against discrimination. Most recently, North Carolina’s sports teams have directed their energy against the state’s recent homophobic legislation.

Former teacher and professional wrestler Hiroshi Hase, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, discusses the impact the 2020 Olympics is having on the country’s infrastructure, attitude to sport, education sector, and spirit of innovation.

He spoke about India hosting the FIFA Under-17 World Cup football tournament next year and said it is a great opportunity for branding the country at the international level, for which immense awareness needs to be created within the nation. 

Baseball is obviously something that the United States and the Cuban people share a common love of and it's a part of both of our heritages, and frankly, also part of the type of exchanges that we are pursuing in business, in culture, in the arts, in sports that can bring the American and Cuban people closer together.

Building on the history of sports diplomacy, dog mushing has the opportunity to become the sport in the north that forms bonds and builds relationships. The changing role of dog mushing is due to the transforming landscape and the efficiency of snowmobiling. Thus, although the days of dogsledding as a key form of transportation may be fading, it is poised to become a form of cultural and sports diplomacy in the North.

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.