The Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee announced today the establishment and holding time of the competitive events of the 19th Asian Games, and clearly stated that the Hangzhou Asian Games will be held from September 10 to 25, 2022. It has been determined that the number of competitive events will increase to 37, including 28 Olympic events and 9 non-Olympic events. Wenzhou, as the Sub-contest division of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, will host football matches and dragon boat races among the all the events.
The journalist learned from the Wenzhou Municipal Sports Bureau that the Wenzhou Municipal Government has previously set up a leading group for the preparation of the Wenzhou Sub-contest division, and formulated the "Plan for the Construction of Venues of the 19th Asian Games in Wenzhou Sub-contest Division". The construction works are going smoothly now. The Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium was started in construction on June 29 last year and the project is going along the orbit. The Ouhai Dragon Boat Sports Base was started on October 29 last year, two months ahead of schedule. Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium’s renovation and improvement project, according to the venue function evaluation report filed by the Asian Games Organizing Committee, has finished the selection of the design unit by bidding. And it has initiated the conceptual plan and works of the preparation of project proposal and preliminary design. The sites of 4 training grounds for the football group-matches have been selected.
Among all the venues in Wenzhou, Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium and Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium will undertake the football group-matches of 19th Asian Games. Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium is located in the downtown area of Wenzhou, with a land area of 58,300 square meters and a building area of 14,843.52 square meters. It was completed in 1997 and was fully renovated in 2016. The stadium has 14,862 seats for audiences (including 330 seats on the rostrum). The stadium has built a 400-meter plastic track and a football field lawn which are in line with international standards.
Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium
The main stadium project of Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center is located by selection in Yongzhong Street, Longwan District. It is in the northwest of the Olympic Sports Center Block. It has the Sports Complex in its east, the Longwan Administrative Center in its north, and the Daluoshan Mountain in its west. The total construction area is about 70,000 square meters. And it covers an area of about 45,000 square meters and the total investment is about 1 billion yuan. After the completion of the phase-2 project (stadium) of Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center, it will have the ability to hold national comprehensive sports meets, international single competitions and international commercial competitions. As an important part of the Wenzhou Olympic Sports Center, it is an urban cultural complex that integrates competitive sports, national public fitness, leisure entertainments, business centers, exhibition performances, and gathering celebrations.
In addition, the newly built Dragon Boat Base in Ouhai district will undertake the Dragon Boat Races of 19th Asian Games. The base is located in the south unit of the Ouhai central district, and adopts the style of “Constructing Water & Shores in Seamless Connection”. The base will create the highest-end dragon boat comprehensive sports center over the country with the layout of “One Field, Two Venues, One Aquatic Base”. The construction includes river water-conservancy project and landscapes-planting project. The river water-conservancy project has a total investment of 250 million yuan. The scope includes lakes along the race tracks (1200 meters in length and 130 meters in minimum width) and those upstream & downstream rivers such as Bantang River, Changjia River, and Changjia Tributary River. Other projects such as landscapes-planting have a total investment of 300 million. The Dragon Boat Sports Base project will be completed in October 2020. In March 2021, the event function will be completed and accepted for trial operation.
According to the introductions, Dragon Boat is a superior event in Wenzhou. It has a long history and strong regional characteristics in Wenzhou. Furthermore, it is much-accepted by common people. There is always an old saying as “Going to Wenzhou, Watching Dragon Boat Race ”. And Wenzhou was named “China Dragon Boat City” by the State Sports General Administration of China in 2012. In recent years, Wenzhou has successively hosted many Chinese Dragon Boat Races. The Dragon Boat Team won medals many times in international and domestic dragon boat races.
