2017 WU Update: Presentation of the Ice Palace

ALMATY – On Wednesday 30 December, Bauyrzhan Baibek, Mayor of Almaty has attended the presentation of the small arena of the ‘Ice Palace’, a twin ice sheet facility and the major venue for the 2017 Winter Universiade.

The Mayor of the city visited the small arena and basin area, and has got acquainted with the presentation of the business opportunities of the Universiade venues under construction and Athletes’ Village.

The ‘Ice Palace’ is the biggest venue of the 2017 Winter Universiade. It will include two ice sheets: a main arena with 12,000 seats and a small arena with 475 seats. The building also includes halls for boxing, wrestling, table tennis, choreography, acrobatics as well as two gyms and a health and recreation center.

The main arena will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Universiade, as well as figure skating competitions. The small arena will host curling. General developer of the Ice Palace is ‘IC Basis’.

It is worth noting that September 2016 will see the completion of several Universiade venues which will also be significant for national sport activities:

• Ice Palace for 12,000 people in the Alatau district and the Athletes’ Village for 5,000 people near the Palace;

• Ice Arena for 3,000 people in the Medeu district, Almaty.

These venues will be used for the first time during the 2017 Winter Unversiade. Arenas are built with the perspective of their large-scale use after the Students’ competitions. Both venues are designed with the possibility of transforming the ice sheet into courts for volleyball, basketball, indoor soccer, etc. as well as holding large-scale concerts provided with the latest technologies of sound and light system. The venues are also perfectly planned for holding conferences, forums and exhibitions at various levels with equipped halls, meeting rooms etc.

The new arenas will become permanent venues for professional athletes as training venues. At the same time, the Ice Arena will be available to the general public (public skating, amateur competitions, organization of sports clubs and others).

(Press Office Almaty 2017)