BEIJING, July 2: A gymnasium being built at the Beijing University to host table tennis events during next year’s Olympics caught fire on Monday, a Games spokeswoman said.

About 1,000 square metres of the building was damaged in the blaze, which broke out on Monday morning and lasted for about an hour, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Beijing Fire Brigade.

Zhu Jing, a media officer with Games organisers BOCOG, confirmed there had been a fire but was not able to give details on the extent of the damage.

An investigation must also be completed before conclusions could be made on the cause and whether the fire would affect the timetable for completing the venue, Zhu said.

“Investigations are still being conducted so we can’t speculate yet,” she said.—AFP