TIANJIN CITY, Aug. 11 -- The newly opened Tianjin Sports Museum will be put into limelight as Tianjin City in China host the much-awaited national finals of the 13th National Games from August 27 to September 8.
The museum was officially opened to the public for free only last March just in time for the quadrennial multi-sports event which Tianjin will host for the first time since it started in 1959.
"We are expecting many people will come here every day during the National Games," a tour guide of the sports museum said in recent media tour of Tianjin’s sports facilities.
Located at the famous Cultural Tourism Zone of Five Avenues in Tianjin downtown, the museum has a 3,000 square meter exhibition area divided into four where over 4,000 sports memorabilia dating back from the Qing dynasty are on display.
The visitors can see some pictures of great athletes China has produced, including Liu Changchun who was the first Chinese to participate in the Olympics in 1932, and the local athletes who excelled in world arena.
The Olympic medals, including nine golds, won by the Chinese athletes from Tianjin particularly in the 2008 Olympic Games which China hosted for the first time, are also on display.
The museum also highlights David Willard Lyon who introduced basketball in China in 1895. The sports is now one of the favorites in China with former NBA player Yao Ming as the current head of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
In the upcoming National Games, Tianjin City left no stone unturned in its preparation for the quadrennial sports event which will take the city’s sports development to a new height.
Considered as the most prestigious sports spectacle in China, the national games will be participated by the country’s more than 10,000 best athletes, including former and incumbent members of the national team vying for the national team.
Tianjian Olympic Center Stadium, a football venue of the 2008 Olympic Games, will serve as the main venue of the two-week competition which is expected to draw 100,000 spectators.
Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, the biggest in Asia, has agreed to convert one of its two polo fields into world-class equestrian venue for the much-awaited National Games.
”We have spent at least 16 months to prepare this equestrian venue because we want to be part of this big sports event in our city,” Domenico Palumbo, general manager of the Metropolitan Polo Club, told journalists recently.
The Metropolitan Polo Club has spent 16 months to complete the facilities for riders and their horses, including 180 stables and billeting centers for the players.
The club’s equestrian field will be kept “forever” to serve as venue for trainings and for future local and international competitions, according to the officials.
The journalists from South Asia and Southeast Asia also visited the man-made beach at Dongjiang Bay which will serve as venue for beach volleyball and sailing competitions.
Tianjin City has prepared 21 new venues and refurbished 15 facilities to add to the existing 11 sports venues for the national games.
The national games will serve as the country’s final selection process for the coveted slots in the national teams that will represent China in the next four years.
China, the powerhouse in Asian Games, finished third behind United States and Great Britain in the 2016 Olympic Games. (PNA)
(Photo by Jelly F. Musico)
