“The basketball games are incidental [to] this,” said Cooley. “It’s the cultural exchange.” In each of the previous cities, the Nanyang Model High team stayed with host families. Along with private training sessions and games, the team has mixed in plenty of sightseeing, including Niagara Falls, Smithsonian museums, and D.C. monuments.

In his second Sporting Chances programme Farayi Mungazi focuses on the common image of Australia as a sporting nation. He looks at the role of sport in shaping the country's national identity and asks whether sporting success will always be part of Australia's soft power.

Sports diplomacy builds on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s vision of “smart power", which embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools, including sports, to bring people together to foster greater understanding. Since 2003, SportsUnited has brought almost 900 athletes from 58 countries to the U.S. to participate in Sport Visitor programs.

Half a dozen years after her last competition, long after Michelle Kwan realized being a figure skater was only one part of the person she wanted to become..."I'm starting now to have skating dreams," said Kwan, 31 and deep into a career in public diplomacy and promoting educational and cultural causes.

The man responsible for Ukraine's Euro 2012 football championship has said Uefa is doing more than the EU institutions to modernise the country..."I think the image of the Ukrainian police will change during this tournament ... I think Europe will discover Ukraine."

Ghazi Stadium in Kabul... Indeed, for a while it was nothing less than a theater of horrors. But now, thanks to funds that have come from the United States, it’s home to a state-of-the-art artificial pitch that can host all manner of sports.

Kwan, who will be inducted into the hall during the national championships at the end of January in San Jose, Calif., has served as a public diplomacy envoy for the U.S. government for the last five years.

The league’s latest attempt to introduce American football to a Chinese audience was more modest: A traveling version of the “NFL Experience” interactive marketing event held Sunday in Shanghai gave locals – and plenty of Americans – a chance to punt, pass and kick like the pros. American football isn’t a natural sell in China.