天津体育馆

Tianjin Gymnasium stands on Binshui West Road, west of Weijin South Road in Nankai District, next to the Tianjin radio and television tower. Construction began on 28 September 1992, the building was completed in December 1994 and opened in 1995 for the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships. Its circular, saucer-like form earned it the local names Feidie, the flying saucer, or simply the Big Hall. The site covers 122,300 sqm with 54,000 sqm of floor area and a height of 53 m; the main hall alone has 24,677 sqm, a roof span of 108 m, 6,713 fixed seats and 2,378 movable seats, and a 200 m indoor athletics track that allows international indoor meetings. The 1995 world table tennis championships, the 1999 world gymnastics championships and the opening ceremony of the 2013 East Asian Games were all held here, and it has since hosted volleyball, basketball, table tennis and badminton events along with large concerts, exhibitions and corporate conferences. The hall faces the Water Drop stadium and the swimming and diving hall known as the third drop across an artificial lake, forming the Binshui West Road sports cluster. Bounded by Binshui West Road to the north and Weijin South Road to the east, it is served by Metro Line 6 and several bus routes, with the Water Park, the Olympic City retail district and a cluster of hotels around it that help absorb event-day crowds. The hall is owned by the municipal government and operated by the sports bureau, and it remains a regular stop for national league volleyball and basketball fixtures.