Empire Games Venue WRESTLING

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31113, 16 July 1966, Page 11

Empire Games Venue WRESTLING

This is the final of a series of 11 articles on the projected venues contained in the Christchurch application for the 1970 British Commonwealth and Empire Games.

'A FLOOR space of 36,000 square feet at the King Edward Barracks is more than enough to enable Christchurch to have two wrestling mats, each on raised platforms, and have accommodation for 2400 spectators as well. Wrestling is one of the nominated sports in Christchurch’s application for the 1970 British Commonwealth and Empire Games and Christchurch is probably more fitted to hold an international wresting competition than any other centre in New Zealand. Mr J. Mclnnes, a wrestling referee at the Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo Olympic Games, will direct the officials responsible for the events. He was specially invited to Tokyo to act as a referee and will be at Kingston, Jamaica, to assist Christchurch in promoting its application. King Edward Barracks has a floor space of 300 feet x 120 feet and the building has no internal supporting pillars to limit the use of floor space. It has often been used to stage major sporting and cultural events, including

the 1965 Pan Pacific Arts Festival. The barracks will be subdivided into a main competition arena, two small warming-up rooms, and a number of small dressing rooms (one for each team). It is expected that between 16 to 20 countries will be sending wrestling teams. The main competition hall

will have two competition mats of plastic or foam rubber material, each eight metres by eight metres. They will have a minimum thickness of 10 centimetres with a further two metres of padding around the edges. Each mat will have a platform with 45 degree angle, panel, sides. The height of the platform will not exceed 1-10 metres. The platform has been considered essential as it enables the judges to have a high level view of the mat and also gives spectators a better view of the wrestling.

rrwwewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwvwwv Six training mats will be placed in Christchurch gymnasia for pre-Games training. These mats will have plastic covers to facilitate cleaning and at the Games Village, Ham Campus, a steam room will be provided to enable competitors to control their weight. Tiered seating will be provided on all four sides to face the two mats in the centre, and will accommodate 2400 spectators. As

the mats are both raised, spectators will get an excellent view. The judges will have electrical equipment which records any points scored so spectators can be kept fully conversant with the progress of the bouts. As the barracks are only about a quarter of a mile from Cathedral Square, the wrestling competitions should attract great public interest