AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008 Tournament Page

The state of the art "Megasport" sport palace in Moscow, Russia is all set to welcome the 88 participants competing in the AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008, which starts on Wednesday.

The Megasport is a brand new arena which opened on December 15th, 2006 and which has been aptly called a pearl in a necklace of Moscow sport venues, which has no comparison in Europe  by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov. The President of the IOC Dr. Jacques Rogge in his letter to the Mayor of Moscow congratulated Muscovites and the whole of Russian sport on the development of the arena, which meets all modern requirements.

The nine-story building, 40 meters in height, is decorated in the colours of the Russian national flag and resembles a propeller of an aircraft, which is unsurprising given the location. Historically Khodynka field was always linked to Russian aviation. For a long time it hosted the central Russian airport, but now it boasts a modern apartment building district in which a 57,500 square meter "Megasport" arena fits perfectly, creating, together with adjacent CSKA and Dinamo venues, a new sport district, in addition to Luzhniki, Krylatskoe and Izmaylovo.

The palace was built with ice hockey in mind, particularly the 2007 Ice Hockey World Championships, however this multipurpose arena can be transformed to host trainings and competitions in 22 sport disciplines, including figure skating, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball... and now it is the turn of world class boxing.

On the ground floor of the main arena, a 6x6m boxing ring will replace the 30x60m ice surface which is normally in place. It is the size of the ring, which will, on December 10, become the center of attraction for millions of fans of one of Russia's favourite sports.

Fourteen thousand of them will able to witness it from the stands.

Megasport website
Address: Khodynsky boulevard, 3
Contact phone: +7 495 643 18 10