The second phase of ticket sales for the 2008 Olympic Games will
close on Sunday with more than 340, 000 people having booked over 2
million tickets, the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) said on
Monday.
"By 12:00 Monday we have received more than 340,000 orders, and
about 90 percent of the orders were over the Internet and the rest
through Bank of China branches," BOCOG said in a statement posted
on its website.
BOCOG also received bookings for 23,000 tickets to the opening
and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Paralympic Games.
Orders were relatively centralized and rhythmic gymnastics,
table tennis, diving, synchronized swimming and artistic gymnastics
were already over-booked, according to the statement.
Tickets will be allocated by a random draw, but the date of the
lottery has yet to be announced.
A total of 7 million tickets for the August 8-24 Games are
available to the general public with nearly three quarters reserved
for domestic sales.
The first batch of 1.6 million tickets were allocated by lottery
earlier this year.
(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2007)