Tribune News Network
Doha
Qatar Foundation’s Doha Debates recently announced the launch of the second season of ‘The Long Game’, the podcast examining the power of sports to change the world for the better. The show, co-produced by Doha Debates and FP Studios – the podcast production arm of Foreign Policy magazine – is hosted by Olympic medalist and trailblazer Ibtihaj Muhammad. Muhammad, a fencer, was the first American Muslim woman to wear a hijab while competing in the Olympic Games.
Season two of ‘The Long Game’ highlights more stories of courage and conviction on and off the field. The series employs narrative storytelling and intricate sound design to immerse listeners in an informative, uplifting, and entertaining podcast experience.
Amjad Atallah, managing director of Doha Debates, said: "‘The Long Game’ shares compelling profiles of remarkable athletes who take on global challenges. After a very successful first season, we are thrilled to return with more stories of bravery, conviction and change, brought to you by Ibtihaj – an extraordinary athlete and activist in her own right.”
The season begins with Nneka Ogwumike, president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), talking to Muhammad about the injustice of basketball star Brittney Griner’s arrest and imprisonment in Russia and delving into her own ongoing campaign to end pay inequity in professional basketball, including her successful negotiation of the WNBPA’s most recent union contract.
The series goes on to highlight diverse and inspiring athletes impacting the global playing field. In the second episode, Robi Alam, a Rohingya refugee and team captain of football club Rohingya United in Brisbane, Australia, talks about using the sport he loves to raise awareness of the plight of the Rohingya. Later in the series, American mountain biker Rebecca Rusch and her Vietnamese biking partner Huyen Nguyen, two strangers from once-oppositional countries, recall their 2015 journey along the entire 1200-mile Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Other athletes and sports activists featured in the podcast include Jordanian black belt taekwondo champion Lina Khalifeh, creator of the first women-only self-defense school in the Middle East; Eric Murangwa Eugene, a footballer and survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis who champions tolerance, unity and reconciliation through sport; and former Moroccan National Basketball Team member Mohamed Amine Zariat, founder of the organization TIBU Africa, which uses basketball as a driving force for education, cohesion and social integration.
Along with ‘The Long Game’, Doha Debates co-produces two other podcasts with Foreign Policy: ‘Course Correction,’ hosted by Doha Debates correspondent Nelufar Hedayat, which recently wrapped its third season after deep-diving into the refugee experience; and ‘The Negotiators’, now in its second season, which takes listeners inside the rooms where some of the world’s most dramatic conflicts were resolved.
‘The Long Game’ is available at DohaDebates.com/podcasts and other major podcast platforms including Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Castbox. New episodes are released weekly on Thursdays.