Eleftheria Athletic Center ( Greek: Αθλητικό Κέντρο "Ελευθερία"), officially named Tassos Papadopoulos Eleftheria Indoor Hall (Μετονομασία γυμναστηρίου-Τάσσος Παπαδόπουλος-Eλευθερία
) is an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

that is located besides Makario Stadium and Lefkotheo Indoor Hall in Engomi,

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. The hall is mainly used for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

events, although it can also be used for

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

, squash,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

and

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

. It is sometimes also used for national celebrations, for the declaration of the new President of Cyprus, and for musical concerts. The arena is named after Tassos Papadopoulos, the fifth President of the

Republic of Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the third lar ...

, who was in office from February 28, 2003, to February 28, 2008. Currently, the arena has a capacity of around 6,800 seats, and it is the second biggest indoor sports hall on the island of Cyprus, after the " Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre" in

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

History

Eleftheria was built in 1993. It is the home venue of AC Omonia Nicosia BC, ETHA Engomis, and the senior men's Cypriot national basketball team. It has hosted several great basketball and other sports competitions, and also some cultural competitions. The most important was Miss Universe 2000, where

Lara Dutta Lara Dutta Bhupathi ( Dutta; born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress. She won the Miss Universe 2000, and has since predominantly worked in Hindi films and series. Dutta is a recipient of a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award and established hers ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, won the title, and was awarded as Miss Universe 2000. 79 delegates competed for the crown. The European Saporta Cup final of 1996–97, between

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

and

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, where Real Madrid won the trophy, and the FIBA EuroCup All-Star Day in 2005, were also held in the arena. It has also hosted some Cypriot Basketball League Finals and

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

Finals. On 25 October 2013, it hosted the first ever EuroLeague game held in Cyprus. For the second game of the

2013–14 Euroleague The 2013–14 Turkish Airlines Euroleague was the 14th season of the modern era of Euroleague Basketball and the fourth under the title sponsorship of the Turkish Airlines. Including the competition's previous incarnation as the FIBA Europe Champi ...

's regular season group stage, Panathinaikos played against Laboral Kutxa,PAO triumphs in first ever Euroleague game in Cyprus.
/ref> in a game in which Panathinaikos won by a score of 95–74. The attendance for the game was 6,200.2013-14 Regular Season Round 2 OCTOBER 25, 2013 CET: 20:30 ELEFTHERIA INDOOR HALL.
/ref> The hall also hosts the official 1st of April commemoration and has also seen a number of presidents delivering their victory speech there.

References

External links

Eleftheria Indoor Hall by Omonia web site
{{Major Stadiums and Indoor arenas in Cyprus Indoor arenas in Cyprus Music venues in Cyprus Sport in Nicosia Buildings and structures in Nicosia Basketball venues in Cyprus Handball venues in Cyprus Volleyball venues in Cyprus

History

See also

References

External links