The National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce this week participated in 'Doha GOALS,' a first-of-its-kind conference dedicated to advancing international relations through sports. The two-day event brought together more than 2,800 delegates from 62 countries, including sports luminaries from all over the world.

In 2002, Blackwell founded a company called Killerspin, based in Chicago. The idea came to him when he was asked to help host a table tennis exhibition in Chicago in the early 2000s, an event meant to celebrate the anniversary of the good-natured exchange of table tennis players between the U.S. and China later known, of course, as Ping Pong Diplomacy.

The National Hockey League (NHL) lockout has put a damper on the winter of most hockey fans. However, it ended up turning out pretty well for Ben Newman. The Little Falls senior met several locked-out NHL stars, visited historic landmarks and met with top-level government officials recently, all part of a sports diplomacy trip to Russia with a group from USA hockey, Oct. 4-14.

We caught up with Kwan, 32, after she spoke during a Washington Post Live conference on women and leadership Wednesday. Does she see herself with State for the long haul? You never in politics, she said, but “I’m very goal-oriented. I do see myself doing something in public service.”

When it began in 2004, the CSL was closer to a hobby than the top-tier professional league it made itself out to be. Back then, 12 teams, composed of mostly domestic footballers, played half-hearted games in front of near-empty stadiums. Match fixing and bribery were so common that many scores were set before the ball was rolled onto the pitch.

The initiative, which was launched by the William Sisters, Serena and Venus, during their recent visit, is set to go from school to school, inspiring girls to take the front row in sports and develop an indomitable and tenacious spirit that will help them challenge and conquer stereotypes and other traditional impediments to their success.

High costs have caused friction for several hosts of Formula One, which has expanded aggressively from its traditional European domain with seven races now in the Asia-Pacific region. Promoters argue that the longer-term benefits in terms of increased tourism and improved nation-branding outweigh the direct financial losses.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it paid $85,000 towards the All Whites' trip to China for a friendly football match. The decision to put taxpayers' money towards a sporting trip was slammed by former foreign affairs minister Winston Peters, who said he was "astonished" MFAT was dabbling in sport.