Qatar Hosts Iraqi Football; Liu Xiang Joins Communist Party; More Sochi Stamps

New Home Field for Iraqi Football

Qatar will host Iraq’s home football qualifiers for both the 2012 Olympics and 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The announcement comes in the wake of FIFA’s decision last month to ban all home qualifiers due to the "general security situation in Iraq" as well as power outages during a Sept. 2 match against Jordan.

Both the senior national and Olympic squads will "feel most welcomed in Qatar," according to a statement from QFA secretary general Saoud bin Abdulaziz Al Mohannadi.

Iraq is pitted alongside China, Singapore and Jordan in pool play for the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2014 football finals. The first "home" leg comes Nov. 11 against China, and Iraq will "host" Australia two weeks later in an Olympic qualifier.

Chinese Olympian Joins Communist Youth League

Olympian Liu Xiang is taking on a role in the Chinese government.

Xinhua news agency reports that the 110m hurdles gold medalist was named deputy secretary of China’s Communist Youth League for the Shanghai sports bureau committee.

This new role will not impede his athletic training, says the director of the bureau.

"To be a deputy secretary of China Communist Youth League Shanghai Sports Bureau Committee does not mean that he will work and have an office here. He will take part in some activities but he is still an athlete," Li Yuyi said in the report.

According to the news agency, joining this organization is the first step in a political career for athletes.

President Hu Jintao was chairman of the organization in the late 1980s.

Sochi 2014 Releases Collectibles

A series of Sochi 2014 collectible stamps are now available.

Following a Monday ceremony, the "Olympic Winter Sports" stamps can now be purchased through a subscription with the Russian post office. More items will be released next October.

Each stamp will cost 77 cents and feature either cross-country skiing, ski-jumping or ice skating.

On Sept. 27, stamps with the theme "Tourism on the Black Sea Coast of Russia" were also released. These collectibles are available in Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese.

"With postage stamps and envelopes being dispersed worldwide, we believe it is one of the best ways to commemorate the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games," said Alexander Kiselev, director of the Russian post office.

"They will become a 'business card' to remember the Games and will contribute to promoting Russia and its sporting traditions," he added.

The first Olympic stamps were issued in 1896 for the Games in Athens.

Sochi 2014 President Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that these new stamps are part of Russian history as well.

"I hope that the Sochi 2014 philatelic program will continue the tradition set up at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. More than 70 stamps were issued for that event. This collection will make a great addition for any collector of Olympic artefacts," he said Monday.

Money for India

The Indian government ponied up $53 million for 2012 preparations.

The luckiest beneficiaries were shooters Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh. Both received nearly $200,000 for training expenses.

India’s hockey teams were alsogranted more than $4 million.

Sports minister Ajay Maken said: "The government is providing quality training to the athletes preparing for the 2012 London Olympics and hopes to win medals in quite a few of the 16 disciplines in which India is taking part. There are 26 disciplines in the London Olympic Games and India should make it for 16."

Sven Tumba, Two-Time Medalist, 80

Sven Tumba, the man named Sweden’s best ice hockey player, and four-time Olympian with two medals, died on Saturday.

According to media reports, he died of prostate cancer.

Before all matches in the Eliteserien, Sweden’s top ice hockey league, a moment of silence was observed Saturday in his honor.

Born Sven Olof Gunnar Johansson, he changed his last name to Tumba, the town he was from, to avoid confusion with other ice hockey stars with the same name.

He represented Sweden in the Olympics at the 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics. At the Oslo and Innsbruck Games he won bronze and silver respectively. Additionally, he has seven world championship medalson his resume, including three gold. For this, he was inducted into the InternationalIce Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 1997.

Following his ice hockey career he became a successful golfer and even represented Sweden in one international football match.

Tumba is survived by his wife, Mona, and four sons.

ATR Social Media Notes

Sibonée Latty of the University of Georgia has become ATR's 1,000th Facebook "like". She receives a six-month subscription to ATR as her prize.

Also this week, 10 randomly selected fans will receive a limited edition ATR pin from the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa.

Watch for more contests and giveaways ... and click here to "like" Around the Rings on Facebook.

Media Watch

One year after the opening of the Commonwealth Games, Amanda Hodge of The Australian writes that "debt and crime" are the twin legacies of Delhi 2010.

The Indo-Asian News Service focuses on India’s unprecedented medal haul but wonders whether the $6 billion Games were worth the cost.

Norris Pritam of Daily News & Analysis notes that Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is "loaded with junk" one year out from the Games and calls the showpiece venue "the world’s costliest junkyard" to the tune of $195 million in renovations.

And India Today is even more blunt: "Delhi has simply lost Commonwealth Games legacy" says the headline.

Written by Matthew Grayson, Ed Hula III and Ann Cantrell.

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