| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 18, 2001 |
IOC Member: Guangzhou Capable of Hosting Asian Games |
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Guangzhou, capital city of southern Chinese province of Guangdong and one of the 15 cities inthe province hosting the competitions for China's ninth national games, is capable of staging Asian Games, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), according to a local newspaper on Sunday.
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Guangzhou, capital city of southern Chinese province of Guangdong and one of the 15 cities inthe province hosting the competitions for China's ninth national games, is capable of staging Asian Games, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), according to a local newspaper on Sunday.
While attending the national games, He Zhenliang, the Chinese member of IOC's executive board, said in an interview with local newspaper Guangzhou Daily that the city has been well-equipped to host Asia's major sporting event.
"You have world-class sports facilities such as the Olympic Complex, the new indoor Guangzhou stadium and the rowing center. You have been in a position of hosting the Asian Games," He was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Guangdong has invited international bidding for designing the venues of the national games, the first time in the history of thequadrennial national event.
The Olympic Complex was eventually designed by the Kansas city-based Ellerbe Becket, a world renowned architectural and engineering firm, and the new indoor stadium is the brainchild of French architect Paul Andreu.
Another big feature of the national games is that the venues are scattered around in Guangzhou and other cities, instead of being jammed as usual in a single city. "This helps boost sports development in the whole province, as each city can benefit from games," He said.
He added that such a scattered lay-out of venues would also help prevent them from being left unused after the games are over. "Some of the hosting cities of previous Olympic Games have put all the stadiums inside one city, which brought about the problem to make a full use of them after the Games," He said.
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