Baluan Sholak Sports Palace

Template:Infobox stadium The Baluan Sholak Sports Palace (Template:Lang-kk) is a Palace of Sports in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. It was built in 1967<ref name="Neonomad"/> and extensively renovated in 2009–2011.<ref name="respub"/> It is named after Baluan Sholak, a celebrated Kazakh composer, singer, poet, dombra player, dzhigit and wrestler.

Renovation

The renovation was undertaken in preparation for the 2011 Asian Winter Games,<ref name="respub"/> for staging the hockey, short track and figure skating events.<ref name="Nurkz"/> The closing ceremony of the Games was also held in the Palace. The number of seats was increased to 5000, and support facilities such as gyms, locker rooms and a press centre were added,<ref name="zakon"/> as well as a medical and rehabilitation complex, commentator booths and electronic displays. The plan also included multi-storey parking for 850 cars.

Events

Events held in the Palace of Culture and Sports have included:

• 15–16 May 2004 – 2004 Asian Judo Championships
• 1–7 July 2007 – 2007 Asian Women's Junior Handball Championship
• 19–25 December 2010 – 2010 Asian Women's Handball Championship
• 30 January – 6 February 2011 – 2011 Asian Winter Games ice hockey and closing ceremony
• 29 April – 1 May 2011 – semifinal and final of the 2010–11 UEFA Futsal Cup
• 14–20 September 2011 – 2011 Asian Women's Junior Handball Championship
• 14–15 January 2012 – 2012 World Judo Masters Championship<ref name="Judo"/>
• 10–16 September 2012 – 2012 Asian Women's Cup Volleyball Championship
• 14–26 October 2013 – 2013 AIBA World Boxing Championships
• 28–29 September 2013 - Judo Grand Prix Almaty 2013
• 5–9 March 2014 – I Futsal Eremenko Cup final tournament
• 8–16 November 2014 – 2014 World Weightlifting Championships
• 8–14 November 2015 – 2015 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships
• 2–6 March 2016 – III Futsal Eremenko Cup final tournament
• 13–15 May 2016 - Judo Grand Prix Almaty 2016

The building is also a venue for live concerts and entertainment.<ref name="Jam"/><ref name="Korea"/>