People play badminton at Yiwu Meihu Sports Center. [Photo/zgyww.cn]

The Yiwu Meihu Sports Center will host the badminton competitions of the 17th Games of Zhejiang Province starting Sept 1, according to the event's organizing committee.

A total of 11 teams with over 500 athletes will take part in the eight-day badminton competitions. They are expected to compete at 14 professional fields inside the sports center.

The 17th Games of Zhejiang Province was suspended due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, which will restart as the situation is generally under control. Strict epidemic prevention and control measures will continue to be implemented in order to ensure the safety of athletes and staffs of the grand sporting event.

Badminton is among the most popular sports in Yiwu. At present, the city is home to more than 200 badminton sports venues, 10 professional training arenas, and more than 40 amateur badminton clubs. The Yiwu Badminton Association has over 300 registered members.

In September, the Yiwu Meihu Sports Center will also host five sports competitions, including football (Men B), volleyball (C and B), and wushu.

The Yiwu Meihu Sports Center has been renovated to host the provincial games. Renovation work, which cost more than 120 million yuan ($17.87 million), was carried out over 7,567 square meters of the sports center, which covers 31,800 square meters in total.

According to officials, the renovation included lighting for the stadium, sports flooring, a display screen, sunken corridors, decoration of players' lounges and the press conference hall, monitoring systems for each venue, firefighting equipment and a sound reinforcement system.