The construction of the Datsyuk Arena sports complex was financed from a presidential grant received by the local team Neoplan for their victory in the 2014 Night Hockey League tournament and from Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region’s municipal budgets. Currently, 600 young athletes train on the ice rinks and in specialised training facilities of this up-to-date hockey centre, which occupies a total area of 6,000 square metres.
The President, accompanied by director of the Datsyuk Arena Oleg Cherepanov and hockey player Pavel Datsyuk, saw several ice hockey rinks designed for training children and juniors. Mr Putin also met with the players of the Neoplan team, who thanked the President for his support.
During his visit to the sport complex, Vladimir Putin viewed a scale model of the sports and educational cluster to be constructed in Yekaterinburg's new neighbourhood Solnechny. The project will include a full range of events to train and teach children, both in kindergarten and school, with classes to be held in a swimming pool and ice hockey rinks. In the long term, the most gifted young players will make up Sverdlovsk Region's regional team.