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City Guide - Moscow - Sport | ||
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Sport Moscow hosted the Olympic Games in the summer of 1980 and as a result has a number of good sporting venues, although the 100,000-seat Lenin Stadium (former home of the Spartak Moscow football club) at the Luzhiniki stadium complex is now a giant flea market. Spartak Moscow now plays at the Lokomotiv Stadium, as do Lokomotiv Moscow. The renowned Dinamo Moscow football club plays at the Dinamo Stadium and FC Torpedo Moscow plays at the Torpedo Stadium. The fifth premier division team in the city is the Central Sport Club of the Army, abbreviated TSSKA or CSKA, who play at the CSKA Peschanoe Stadium, as does the popular CSKA ice hockey team. In fact, many of the teams cross sport boundaries - Spartak field an ice hockey team and CSKA also has a basketball team. Tennis is currently enjoying a great deal of popularity not least because it was frowned upon as bourgeois in Soviet times and because of the success of international stars such as Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Anna Kournikova and Marat Safin. Moscow hosts the country's annual grand slam, the Kremlin Cup, at the Olympiisky Sports Complex on Prospekt Mira. Fitness centres: Almost all of the international hotels have fitness facilities and swimming pools. Golf: There is a fairly central nine hole course at the Moscow City Golf Club, Dovzhenko ulitsa 1 (tel: (095) 147 1826), where admission costs Rb700. More challenging 18-hole courses are further out at Le Meridien Moscow Country Club in Nakhadino (tel: (095) 926 5911). Tennis: The Chaika Tennis Courts, Korobeynikov pereulok 1 (tel: (095) 202 0474), are conveniently located near Park Kultury metro station. There is also a swimming pool in the complex. Petrovsky Park Tennis Club, Leningradsky prospekt 36 (tel: (095) 212 7392), is another option. Wintersports: There is a downhill ski jump in the Vorobyevi Hills and cross-country skiing opportunities at Izmailovsky Park and in the countryside outside of Moscow. There are numerous places to skate when the water freezes in mid-winter, including Gorky Park. Banya: As sure as a Russian likes tea from a samovar, a Russian likes a banya which usually includes a sauna, massage and sometimes even a light whipping with birch twigs just to make sure the circulation is really working. Seleznovskye Bani on Seleznovskaya ulitsa meets all the necessary requirements for a traditional banya. |