Renovation of 23 sports venues in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, for the upcoming 15th National Games has been completed, reported Chinanews.com, the official website of the China News Service, on Monday.

Guangzhou is responsible for 23 of the 30 total venues in its competition zone. The first six venues in the city had been submitted for review by the end of December 2024. 

As of March 31, the construction on all 23 venues - except for one temporary structure to be built before the Games - had been completed. 

Twenty venues, including the Tianhe Sports Center, have passed final inspections, with the Guangdong Provincial People's Stadium and Guangdong Olympic Sports Center also meeting their scheduled deadlines.

According to the report, the Tianhe Stadium recently upgraded its 1,000-meter outdoor track to meet World Athletics certification standards. The renovation aims to integrate professional sports facilities with public fitness and cultural tourism, creating a new urban sports landmark. 

In addition, the track system of the stadium links to surrounding accessible facilities and features customized signage and equipment to meet both competition standards and public fitness needs.

Meanwhile, upgrades to the Guangzhou University Town Stadium go beyond infrastructure, enhancing athlete and staff facilities to improve service capacity to ensure the venue can respond quickly and effectively to a wide range of needs during major events. 

The design of its indoor and outdoor spaces features Lingnan garden elements, with native plants selected to suit the local climate and create a sustainable, eco-friendly environment, shaping a modern, low-carbon sports venue with distinctive Lingnan characteristics. 

Built around the stadium and integrated with surrounding natural landscape, the project aims to create an open and shared ecological sports park, according to the report. 

More than 90 percent of the venues in Guangzhou for the event were renovated from existing facilities, with only five newly built venues. A total of 22 venues are shared by both the National Games and the Para Games, maximizing the use of venue resources, Cui Jian, head of the Sports Bureau of Guangdong Province, said at the  one-year countdown event to the 15th National Games in November 2024, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Sustainability has been a key focus in preparing for the Games, Cui said. Energy-saving, low-carbon and environmentally friendly practices were applied throughout venue construction, event operations and post-Games use. Many venues have undergone green upgrades, adopting measures to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.  

According to Cui, long-term use of the venues is also a consideration. In addition to meeting competition needs, the facilities were designed to support future operations and promote public fitness, said the Xinhua report.

The National Games will be held from November 9 to 21 and feature 34 competitive sports and 23 mass sports activities. Guangdong will host most of the events, while Macao will be home to four competitive events, including table tennis and women's 3x3 basketball. Meanwhile, Hong Kong is set to host eight competitive sports events, including men's basketball, track cycling, and fencing. 

This will mark the first time that Hong Kong and Macao will co-host the nation's largest, highest-level sporting event since the first edition was launched in 1959.

The 15th National Games, held every four years, is the nation's largest and highest level national multi-sports event. The last edition in 2021 saw over 12,000 athletes compete in Shaanxi Province.