BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's Wukesong sports center, once used as basketball venue for Beijing 2008, is starting its transformation into an ice hockey venue for Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Thursday, the Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office confirmed.

Ma Xin, Deputy General Manager of Wukesong sports center said that the center will change the size of the existing ice hockey arena according to the requirements of the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the requirements of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the 30X60 rink used in previous Winter Olympics will be changed to 26X60 to increase the intensity of ice hockey matches.

After the renovation, Wukesong sports center will have two types of convertible ice rinks, 30X60 and 26X60, to facilitate the operation of the stadium after the competition.

Wukesong sports center is located near Wukesong Bridge along Chang'an Avenue, with a construction area of 63,000 square meters and a capacity of 18,000 people. After the Beijing Olympic Games, it has seen a great deal of use as a stadium for sports and recreational activities in Beijing.

In 2016, the Wukesong sports center was the main arena for both basketball and ice hockey events. After a modification of its ice making and dehumidification systems, the arena can be switched between its ice hockey and basketball setups within 6 hours, and many "ice-basket back-to-back" competitions have been successfully held.

The Winter Olympics renovation project of the Wukesong sports center is expected to be completed in October of this year and meet the requirements of the test competition set for April of next year. Enditem

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