Ice center opens for athletes with disabilities

Beijing's Disabled Persons Curling and Ice Hockey Sports Center opened on Saturday, with the approach of the 31st National Day for Helping the Disabled, which falls on the third Sunday of May.

As the first provincial curling and ice hockey sports center for the disabled in China, the arena is also the first fixed air-supported membrane structure in the capital, the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation said. It will provide a training venue for athletes preparing for the upcoming Beijing Paralympic Winter Games.

The arena, with construction beginning at the end of last year, occupies an area of 9,878 square meters in Beijing's southern Daxing district.

Facilities in the center include a Paralympic-standard ice hockey field and five curling tracks, with high-definition video recording and scoring systems. Two ice hockey teams and five curling teams can be trained at the same time in the center.

To make it convenient for disabled athletes, the center adopted barrier-free designs both inside and outside.