Olympic Baseball Field delivered

(BEIJING, August 13) -- Wukesong Baseball Field, one of the 31 Beijing-based venues for the 2008 Olympic Games, has been delivered to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

The field is ready to go for Good Luck Beijing 2007 International Baseball Tournament from August 18-23, a sport event for the next summer's Olympics. Team China is under the tutelage of former MLB Rookie of the Year and Los Angeles Dodger Manager Jim Lefebvre.

Located in west Beijing and adjacent to the Olympic Basketball Field, the venue has three fields - a practice field in the north, and two competition field in the center and south with 3,000 seats and 12,000 seats respectively.

Construction began in December 2005. As one of the eight temporary venues for the Olympics, the baseball field has a simple layout. Its architects provided several gates for the spectator flows, taking into consideration the seat capacity of each court. Major League Ballpark infield and stadium designer assigned to this project by the IBAF, Murray Cook has been working closely with BOCOG on the layout of the new Olympic stadium and is very pleased with the new facility.

There are two kinds of stands in the venue: one is steel-structured and the other a temporary facility, whose functions will be realized through a rented or temporarily- built support structure, thus saving money.

Cook and his crew adopted Bermuda grass, commonly used in other competition fields. The grass can be easily planted and needs only a moderate amount of lawn grass care, maintenance and mowing. The workers took the stems of the plant directly from a farm in Shanghai, saving money and time to sow and maintain.

The red soil laid on the skirts of the grass and on the infield is blended with additives that are permeable and do not raise dust.