The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ SportsUnited Division will bring 13 Iraqi taekwondo athletes, eleven youth and two coaches, to the United States, June 5- 15th, to participate in a U.S. Government sports visitor program. This will be SportsUnited’s second-ever taekwondo sports visitor program and the fourth sports exchange with Iraq.

In this respect, MTN Rwanda has supported and promoted the development of sports. This year alone the company sponsored the '2012 Peace Cup' soccer tournament was at the tune of Frw 51.4 million. It also supported local musicians through its involvement in the annual 'Salax Music Awards.

Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power,” embracing the full range of diplomatic tools, including sports, to bring individuals together to foster greater understanding.

By investing in a sporting event the magnitude of the FIFA World Cup as part of its public and cultural diplomacy exercise, South Africa was able to promote the country’s passion for an international game and to portray South Africa as a hospitable nation and host to the world.

Sports boycotts, as part of sports diplomacy or the use of sports for political or diplomatic means, have occurred on a number of occassions in the past. The most notorious examples are the Olympic Games of 1980 in Moscow and 1984 in Los Angeles, both heavily influenced by Cold War politics. But also in 2008 only 9 leaders of EU Member States attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Papua New Guinea and the Pacific are to be at the centre of a new sport diplomacy policy being developed by Australia's opposition Liberal National coalition.

The European Commission and other political leaders are planning to boycott the event because of the alleged ill-treatment of the country’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who has been on hunger strike for several weeks...

The European Commission and other political leaders are planning to boycott the event because of the alleged ill-treatment of the country’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko...Lots of people say that sport and politics shouldn’t mix. But the reality is that they very often do and not...