Public sports in post-war Iraq

An Iraqi boy plays football in Diwanya, 180 kms South of Baghdad, on March 28, 2004. Iraqi children were the first victims of the sanctions by the United Nations after the army of Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Now they are still paying a heavy price from the chaos and isolation of the country after Saddam's April 9, 2003 ouster by US-led forces. [Photo/icpress]

An Iraqi child stretches on a mat at a gymnasium on the outskirts of the southern city of Karbala, some 110 kms from Baghdad, on July 12, 2009. The club, which is popular during the summer school holidays, is frequented by boys and girls, providing gymnastic lessons to children and teenagers up to the ages of 19 years old. [Photo/icpress]