Cuprija to get athletics hall for European tournaments – Works to start in March 2017, construction of entire athletics complex planned

Vera Nikolic, Zora Tomecic, Snezana Pajkic, Dragana Zdravkovic and Aca Petrovic have long since made Cuprija famous as the city of athletics, even though it lacked running tracks. These athletes’ success is one of the main reasons why it has been decided to raise an athletics complex in the city.

As eKapija learns, the construction of an athletics hall in Cuprija will start after the European Indoor Athletics Championships Belgrade 2017, which will take place on March 3-5. Once it’s finished, it will be available for use for further athletics competitions.

This will be only the third hall in Serbia capable of housing athletics tournaments, following those in Belgrade and Novi Sad. The construction of an entire athletics complex is planned, but the only thing certain so far is that Cuprija will get an athletics hall in 2017.

The hall will be raised on the auxiliary football stadium, as municipality council member in charge of sports Vladimir Vasiljevic says for eKapija.

– We are now preparing the preliminary design for the hall, and the project for the athletics stadium has already been completed. Together, they will make up the athletics complex which will bear the name of Aleksandar Petrovic. The hall will be completed by the end of the athletics season, whereas the construction of the athletics stadium depends on financial means – Vasiljevic says.

The municipality of Cuprija has set aside RSD 131 million from the budget for the construction of the athletics hall, and the state and the Athletics Federation of Serbia are expected to help as well. The Tartan track has already been secured and will be transported to Cuprija from the Belgrade Arena following the 2017 European Championship. Its value exceeds EUR 3 million.

The Sremska Mitrovica-based company GR Sport is in charge of the future look of the hall in Cuprija. The company has already prepared the preliminary design for the stadium and the project of the entire athletics complex.

In order for this to be realized, the Government of Serbia granted the right of ownership over the main and the auxiliary stadiums of FC Morava to the municipality of Cuprija last year. The agreement on the transfer of ownership right was signed by the director of the Property Directorate of Serbia, Jovan Vorkapic, and the president of the municipality, Ninoslav Eric.

Let us remind that, in the past two years, an athletics stadium has been built in Krusevac, whereas an athletics track has been developed at the City Stadium of Smederevska Palanka. The opening of an athletics stadium in Novi Pazar, worth a million euros, is also expected to take place in 2017.

Belgrade to host 700 athletes

A little over a month remains before the Belgrade European Championship. As the organizers say, this tournament is the largest organizational challenge regarding athletics so far, and the Belgrade Arena will be able to take in 10,000 sitting viewers.

More than 700 athletes from 48 countries are expected to attend, whereas the number of tourists and guests will measure in thousands.

The completion of the works in the Belgrade Arena is planned for February 15, and the Balkan Athletics Championship will be held on February 25 and act as the final rehearsal for the European Championship.

S.S.