By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Events for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games will be held in downtown LA, Exposition Park, Venice Beach, Long Beach, Carson and Arcadia under the venue plan released by Games organizers LA28 on Tuesday.
Like the LA Olympics, the Paralympics will seek to take advantage of the city’s vast network of existing sports venues when it hosts the event for the first time.
Downtown LA will be a major hub of activity with wheelchair fencing, para judo, para taekwondo, boccia and para table tennis all held at the Convention Center.
“By hosting multiple competitions side by side, the events will encourage constant movement, shared fan engagement and a festival-like environment that highlights the diversity of athletic performance,” LA28 said in a release.
Wheelchair basketball will be held at Crypto.com Arena, home of the NBA’s LA Lakers, with the U.S. men’s team looking to capture a fourth consecutive gold medal.
Goalball, a sport designed exclusively for people with visual impairments that requires total silence from the crowd, will take place at the nearby Peacock Theater in an acoustically optimised setting.
LA Memorial Coliseum will host para athletics and the Paralympics closing ceremony, while the opening ceremony will be held at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers.
Galen Center will host para badminton and wheelchair rugby, Carson will stage para archery, wheelchair tennis and para cycling, while Arcadia’s Santa Anita Park will be the site of para equestrian.
On the west side of the city, Venice Beach will host para triathlon and mark the starting point of the para athletics marathon, while Long Beach will host seven events including para swimming, blind football and para climbing’s debut.
With every competition venue within a 35-mile radius, the venue plan seeks to minimize travel times for athletes staying in the Paralympic Village, LA28 said.
“As a result, for the first time since Rio 2016, Paralympians across every sport will have the opportunity to be housed together at the Olympic and Paralympic Village, which will be based on UCLA’s campus,” LA28 said, referring to the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Paralympics will be held from August 15-27 in 2028.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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