Universal Regional Sports Complex

The Universal Regional Sports Complex is located in Khabarovsk.

This was the city’s Ice Palace, opened in 1956, when the local team, HC Amur, played on a sheet of ice that would freeze over the parquet floor each winter. The team moved to a bigger arena in 2003, leaving the old hall empty until it was rebuilt for winter sports and volleyball. The surface is now hard court. You can hear the squeak of trainers and the slap of a ball from the door, which sits beside a church with gold domes that watches the river.

The capacity is 1,670. It is a small number for a city this size, but the acoustics are sharp. When the Amur Tigresses play their home matches in the Russian Volleyball Championship, the sound bounces off the white walls. There is no hoarding, no advertising boards. The stands are close to the floor. The roof is supported by a ring of white steel columns, and the light comes in through the holes in the wall. It is cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

The complex is used for more than sport. There are concerts here, and festivals, and boxing matches. The official website lists the events, but the schedule changes often. The address is Amursky Boulevard, 1A. You can find the building between the river and the industrial chimney stacks. It is not a place you visit for the atmosphere; you visit because there is nothing else. The ice used to be the main attraction, but the parquet is what remains. The team plays away now, and the Tigresses play here. The stands are full when the finals come, and empty the rest of the year. The roof leaks in heavy rain.