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Rio 2016 to limit capacity for athletics test event

Xinhua, May 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Rio's Engenhao stadium, which will stage athletics and football at this year's Olympic Games, will be open to just 3,000 spectators during an official Rio 2016 test event starting on Saturday.

According to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, Engenhao staff are still working to prepare the venue for the event, which will also serve as the Iberian-American athletics championship.

Despite the track being "practically ready", work to construct temporary stands is yet to be completed, the newspaper said.

The three-day Iberian-American athletics championship will bring together 400 athletes, mainly from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Located in Rio's north, the Engenhao stadium was built for the 2007 Pan American Games at a cost of 192 million US dollars.

Temporary stands will increase the stadium's capacity from 46,000 to 60,000 for the Olympics, which begin on August 5.

The stadium was closed from March 2013 to February 2015 after it was found the roof could collapse due to structural defects. Endit