Soft power, a concept conceived by Havard University Professor Joseph Nye, is the ability to attract, convince and include others through persuasion rather than force or other means. Football has a special place in South Africa as the sport of the everyman. While cricket and rugby are two sports still dominated by the country's white community, football was the game that took deep root within the black majority.

Table tennis has helped connect China and the United States since 1971, when the US team's visit to Beijing sparked a thaw in relations. The sport is poised to play a similar role again, as Dubai announced on Monday it will sponsor the Chinese national team as part of an effort to promote exchange and growth between the two nations."This will be the first time the Chinese national table tennis team has cooperated with a foreign partner."

“It is a big step for the future and building people-to-people relationships between Myanmar and the United States,” said Min San, another player of the 12-member junior Burmese basketball team that is visiting the US on the invitation of the State Department.

I’ll be meeting 12 Burmese basketball players in their teens – six girls, six boys. They’re here because we invited them to visit Washington to see a Washington Wizards game. After that, they’ll go down to Charlotte where they’ll meet with Bobcats General Manager Richard Cho, who happens to be a Burmese American. He’ll invite them to his home and take them to a Bobcats game.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces that 12 Burmese youth—six boys and six girls—and two coaches will travel to the United States January 7-20.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces that 12 Burmese youth—six boys and six girls—and two coaches will travel to the United States January 7-20. The basketball exchange program, with support from the National Basketball Association (NBA), marks the first State Department Sports Visitor program with Burma.

Rob Gravina just wants to grow the sport he loves. For that reason, and that reason alone, the 47-year-old engineer for IBM organized a 148-person strong travelling party from Great Britain to come to the tri-state area for a week of hockey and cultural exchange.

For starters, we could have never used this headline for an Ashes series. The reason, if I may add, is pretty simple — there are no political overtones to the Ashes whereas an India-Pakistan series is seldom without a political “tarkaa.” Perhaps, that is what raises the excitement quotient of India-Pakistan cricket.