Design for indoor arena at Kai Tak 'inadequate' for badminton events
Proposed new venue in Hong Kong falls short of seats required to stage high-profile international events such as Sudirman Cup
The design proposal for a multi-purpose indoor arena on the former Kai Tak airport site would deny thousands of fans access to high-profile events, said Hong Kong Badminton Association chairman Tong Wai-lun on Monday.
Although the government's new facility could accommodate up to seven courts, it would seat just 4,000 fans, 1,600 less than the Hong Kong Coliseum, which is the existing principal venue for top events such as the annual international Badminton Superseries. Even though the Coliseum can host up to 12,000 for sports such as volleyball, which requires one court, that drops to just 5,600 for big badminton tournaments that need multiple courts.
The Coliseum has room for only four competition badminton courts, which has been deemed inadequate by the sport's world governing body.
Tong said he felt let down. "We need an indoor venue of at least 6,000 seats to host international events and had specified this on the record of our request," said Tong, who is also a member of the government's advisory arm - the Sports Commission.
"We have high hopes for the new facility. It should be able to provide more space, so we can consider staging bigger events such as the Sudirman Cup, which comprise five levels of competition and cannot be held in any existing venue in Hong Kong.
"We are now providing 5,600 seats for the Hong Kong Open [November 19 to 24] at the Coliseum in Hung Hom, and it is hardly believable a new venue will provide less. If we want to stage world-class events, a venue of 4,000 seats is not adequate."