Boxers in Edinburgh will fight at ice-rink

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31835, 13 November 1968, Page 15

Boxers in Edinburgh will fight at ice-rink

TJOXERS chosen to repre"L> sent their countries in the ninth Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh next July are in for a novel experience. They will fight their bouts at an ice rink. However, this is not a bizarre attempt to encourage greater activity. The refrigeration plant will be turned off. The rink, known as the Murrayfield Ice Rink, is situated beside Edinburgh’s famous Rugby ground and it is being subsequently altered for the games. It will have accommodation for 4000 spectators. Facilities for the games appear to be well in hand and all but the cycling venue have been decided on. The New Meadowbank Sports Centre will be the focal point of the games. This is being built by the Edinburgh Corporation as a permanent location for a variety of sports at a cost of more than $4,500,000. It will be the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies. The main stadium and its magnificent all weather “tartan” track will be used for the track and field athletics. Adjacent to it are the sports halls which are the venues for badminton, fencing and wrestling.

Run-ups for the jumping events in the athletics will also be surfaced with “tartan” synthetic rubber material. A warming-up all-wea-ther track will be linked to the main arena by a tunnel. The centre, one of the most lavish in the world, has been designed as a lasting asset to the capital city of Edinburgh and the whole of Scotland. It is felt that in the long term Meadowbank’s existence in the country’s sporting scene will prove of tremendous benefit to young- athletes. The swimming stadium will also be a magnificent structure. Like the Meadowbank Sports Centre, it will encourage international competition and novices for decades to come. The post will be 165 ft long and 66ft Bin wide—the widest in Europe. There will be a separate diving well. Its total cost will be $3,200,000. While they are in Edinburgh, competitors will live in the recently built Pollock Halls of Residence at Edinburgh University, which is alongside a park next to the swimming pool. More than 1500 athletes will be catered for. Western and eastern meals will be provided. The task of assembling the many committees required to organise the games is always a mammoth task but

one which Edinburgh seems to have completed satisfactorily. More than 300 persons are involved in the organisation—many of them titled—and nearly all committees are working. All timing equipment will be provided by Omega, which provided the same service at the Mexico City Olympics. The opening ceremony of the games will be held on July 16, 1970.

Trophy events

To increase interest in its meetings, the executive of the Canterbury centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association may hold handicap trophy meetings on November 30 and December 7. The usual graded scratch competitions would be replaced by handicap events for both track and field competitions. The decision to hold the handicap meetings will be made tonight. Such meetings should greatly increase the interest in the meeting on December 7 for the stimulous of trophy handicap events would do much to make up for the absence of leading athletes from Canterbury who would be competing in the triangular tournament.