sports diplomacy

They have a reputation for smashing everything in their wake. Their nickname is the Chnawa, literally “the Chinese,” a politically incorrect reference not only to their large numbers but also to their reputation as an unstoppable horde. They are the fans of Mouloudia Algiers, the doyen of soccer in Algeria and the beating heart of the nation. Even though the club does not always win the national championship, Mouloudia is by far the most popular team in the country and the one that politicians, and the government, want on their side.

The Little League World Series is an international baseball tournament created in 1947 for children between the ages of 11 and 13. In its current iteration, the Little League World Series is a 16-team tournament, divided into an international bracket and a U.S. bracket, with the final played in South Williamsport, PA, between the champions of the two brackets. The tournament represents 8 different regions of the U.S., and a regional winner from: Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, Japan, Latin America and Mexico.

Sepp Blatter has admitted he is open to the possibility of staging the 2022 World Cup in more than one Gulf nation after revealing several countries had offered to co-host the tournament with Qatar. With a formal decision still to be made over whether it will be staged in the winter, Blatter also indicated that his preference is to start it in November or December rather than January or February.

On October 6, 2013, 16 women from Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkmenistan and Uganda gathered to share stories about their time in the United States. These women may have come from all corners of the globe and speak different languages, but one trait unifies them: They all want to create more opportunities for women and girls through sports.

With just 100 days before the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has a key opportunity to speak out about abuses linked to Russia’s preparations for the Games. The IOC should also call on Russia to repeal a law that discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, Human Rights Watch said.

London is set to abandon plans to bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the BBC has learned. Mayor Boris Johnson is said to be worried the event could cost as much as £1bn and that the city could not afford it. He had previously backed the plans. A final decision has not been made, but a source said a bid was "unlikely".

A World Cup berth appears unlikely after their home defeat to Nigeria but a growing legion of Ethiopian fans are taking to Twitter to lure overseas-based players eligible to represent the Walyas. Nigeria came from behind to snatch a last-gasp 2-1 win over Ethiopia in the first leg of their playoff in Addis Ababa after two goals from Emmanuel Emenike helped them take a big step towards next year's finals in Brazil.

David Stern is set to retire in February 2014, after completing exactly 30 years of service as commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In transforming the NBA from a drug-addled public-relations nightmare of a league into a multi-billion dollar entity, Stern’s proudest accomplishment is growing the game globally. After investing in Europe for the better part of a decade following the fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc countries, Stern set his sights on Asia as a new frontier.

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