Sports park’s first phase ready
Sun Ling and Tom Qian
THE first phase of Shanghai Citizen Sports Park, in Jiading’s Anting Town, has been completed.
Its 420,000 square meters include 18 standard soccer pitches, 32 half-size pitches and 25 basketball courts, as well as service centers, jogging tracks, more than 800 parking lots and a plaza for events.
Xu Keyi, a student from Jiading’s Shanghai Jiayi Joint High School, wrote the name in calligraphy for the park in Chinese.
“It’s out of my wildest imagination that my calligraphy could be chosen. In order to write the words well, I spent more than one week to practice these words only,” Xu said.
“This is the best soccer field I have ever seen. I hope that there will be more opportunities for us to visit Jiading to play games, promote communication and let the children improve,” said Li Hongda, coach of Xingzhi High School’s U13 team in Haining in neighboring Zhejiang Province.
The team played with Jading’s Xuhang High School at the opening of the park on September 19.
“The facilities here are very professional and look so nice. After the opening of the park, we must find a chance to invite friends to exercise here,” Zhao Xianhong, a resident in nearby Jiading New Town, said. Zhao works in Waigang Town and passes by the park on his way to work every day.
“The park will make up for the lack of football pitches and basketball courts in Jiading,” said Wang Hao, Jiading’s deputy director. “It will also be a good place for locals to hang out and enjoy sport events.”
The sports park will cover 2.8 square kilometers when completed next January. Information on activities at the park can be accessed via its Weibo and WeChat accounts.