“We have always believed in cricket diplomacy and there is a harmony in cultures of both the countries. We both are good at cricket and people on both sides love the game. People in Pakistan are bound by cricket and we need that unity at the moment.”

Bryant entered the gym at Gertz-Ressler High School Thursday where he oversaw a Mandarin exchange program partnered with the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation, an event that featured Chinese exchange students participating in defensive, shooting and dribbling drills. The enthusiastic response obviously highlights the popularity the Lakers' star commands.

Granted, Mr Lin’s own path to stardom is in itself unprecedented, but in America, the unprecedented is possible. Chinese basketball fans have taken note of this. Mr Lin’s story may be a great and inspiring proof of athleticism to the Chinese people, but it is also unavoidably a story of American soft power.

Even if the politics of India-United States ties sometimes falls short of the hoop, the two nations continue to score slam-dunks in terms of bilateral sport diplomacy. This week the U.S. State Department announced that the second round of people-to-people exchanges under its Sports Visitor programme...

The Sports Visitor program will begin in Washington, D.C. where the delegation will meet with U.S. basketball coaches, work with young American athletes, participate in a basketball clinic with Special Olympics athletes, and engage in activities focused on teambuilding and injury prevention.

No athlete in our history has become such a national hero. And as far as Serbia's image abroad is concerned -- can you think of a better public diplomacy vehicle?

For the first time – ever – Afghanistan today played an international cricket match against...top-ranked neighbor Pakistan, with whom it has a relationship that is sometimes fraught with uneasiness, sometimes full of professions of brotherhood. The historic cricket match...both illustrated the love/hate relationship and helped fans on both sides of the border to forget, at least for a while, the tensions that exist between their countries.

If Mr. Xi can appear at ease in the informal atmosphere of a Lakers game, he may succeed where Mr. Hu failed in establishing a more friendly image in the U.S. to help counterbalance perceptions among many Americans of China as a military and commercial adversary.