The Saryarka Velodrome (, ''Saryarqa velotregi''; ) is an indoor cycle-racing track or

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

that is located in

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Construction

Constructed in the shape of a racer's helmet, the velodrome is a unique sports complex that not only houses a

cycling track Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

, but its 58,000 metre square surface area also contains a sports courts, a fitness centre, a swimming pool, a basketball court, an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

, as well as conference halls, a restaurant and a hotel. It is mainly used for

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

and

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 ...

. The seating capacity of the arena for cycling events is 9,270, being able to use only the permanent tiers of seating. Additional temporary tiers of seating can be added around the court area for basketball games, bringing capacity to 10,000.

History

The track hosted the opening round of the

2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup The 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup (also known as the 2011–2012 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, presented by Samsung for sponsorship reasons) was a multi-race tournament over a season of track cycling. The season ran from 4 November 2011 to ...

in November 2011. The arena was used during the

2011 Asian Winter Games The 2011 Asian Winter Games (; ), also known as Astana-Almaty 2011 (), were a continental winter multi-sport event held from January 30 to February 6, 2011 in Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was the first time that Kazakhstan hosted such a larg ...

for

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

. It is the home arena of the

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

professional basketball club

BC Astana Astana Basketball Club (), commonly referred to as BC Astana, is a Kazakh professional basketball club that is based in Astana, Kazakhstan. Founded in 2011, it has competed in the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship and the VTB United League sinc ...

References

External links

* Indoor arenas in Kazakhstan Basketball venues in Kazakhstan Sports venues in Astana Cycle racing in Kazakhstan Sports venues in Kazakhstan Velodromes Venues of the 2011 Asian Winter Games {{Kazakhstan-sports-venue-stub

Construction

History

See also

References

External links