Build it and they’ll come: Bigger badminton venue at Kai Tak Sports Park will attract international events to Hong Kong
The proposed Indoor Sports Centre will have a seating capacity of 7,000 following public consultation by the government, with officials now eyeing the top-level World Championships and Sudirman Cup
Hong Kong will bid for the biggest badminton events after the government revised the seating capacity of Indoor Sports Centre at the proposed Kai Tak Sports Park, which is due to be completed in 2022, but only if the construction can start in 2018 as anticipated.
One of the three venues to be built on the former Kai Tak Airport site, the multi-purpose centre was originally designed with a seating capacity of 4,000 when the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee approved a HK$62.7 million pre-construction works budget for the project last year.
But after the government launched a public engagement exercise last month to provide information on the planning of the project and collect people’s views, the indoor sports arena has now been redesigned with an additional 3,000 seats.
“No one will stage a top international badminton event such as the World Championships or the Sudirman Cup in a venue which can accommodate only 4,000 spectators,” said Hong Kong Badminton Association chairman Tong Wai-lun, who has been against the small seating capacity of the venue from day one.
“If we build a new facility, we have to look ahead and should not compare it with current facilities. We don’t know how many years later the government will build another new facility.