BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Athletes for the Beijing Olympic Games are likely to play to packed houses, as enthusiastic fans snapped up Olympic tickets in the final round of sale.
By Saturday evening, 16 of the 19 ticket booths, which started the fourth, or the final, phase of Olympic ticket sale to individuals on Friday, hung out signs "sold out".
Tickets for "hot sports" like tennis and archery were sold out within hours on Friday, said Wu Xiaonan, an official with a ticket booth near the Beijing Olympic Green Hockey Stadium. But, tickets for hockey, boxing and handball are still available, Wu said, adding most tickets for hockey are probably sold out by late Sunday. A female official surnamed Yu at a booth of the Olympic Sports Center said tickets for the handball match are expected to be sold out by Monday.
A total of 820,000 tickets, covering 28 sports events, were put on sale on Friday at 19 ticket booths around the city. By Friday noon, tickets for gymnastics, diving and football were sold out. The sales created long queues in the city. More than 30,000 people lined up overnight at a ticket booth near the Bird's Nest on Friday, forcing local police to take temporary measures to prevent chaos. All the Olympic tickets at the booth were sold out at 3 a.m. on Saturday. In all, 6.8 million Olympic tickets were available for domestic and foreign sales.
Showing posts with label tickets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tickets. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Friday, 25 July 2008
Stampede for Olympics tickets
BBC News, Beijing
Thousands of people have descended on ticket booths across the Chinese capital, Beijing, to get their hands on the last batch of Olympic tickets.
Police had to call in reinforcements at one sales centre near the main Olympic venues to hold back surging crowds. Tickets for high-profile events were snapped up in a matter of hours.
A total of 820,000 tickets went on sale from 0900 local time, but some people had been queuing for days. Buyers have been restricted to two tickets each. The biggest scrum appeared to take place at the booth near the main Olympic venues, where crowds had to be held back by police. Many waiting were drenched in sweat by the time they finally made it to the front of the queue. One man said he had managed to jump the queue at a particularly chaotic moment.
This sales centre was selling tickets for a number of high-profile events, including the much-sought-after 110m hurdles final. Chinese athlete Liu Xiang is the reigning Olympic champion in this event and tickets sold out in just half an hour. Tickets for diving events, another sport in which China excels, were gone in just a few hours. There were more orderly line-ups at other Olympic venues.
At the Workers' Stadium, where tickets for Olympic football matches were on sale, people had been queuing since Thursday. Many had brought stools to sit on, and something to eat and drink, as they waited in a queue that was several hundred metres long. Others shared cigarettes or stood in line fanning themselves as the morning temperature began to rise.
"We've been here all night. It wasn't too bad," said Song Lihua, as she stood holding an umbrella to shade herself from a sun that was struggling to break through the morning smog. Ms Song was near the front of the queue, but still expected she would have to wait another four or five hours. "They are too slow," she shouted, a call repeated by others. "There are only three tickets windows open." Others who had just arrived were amazed - and slightly depressed - to find so many people already waiting.
"The queue's too scary," said student Xie Gu, who had come up to Beijing from southern Zhejiang Province to get an Olympic ticket. The 20-year-old said he was going to walk to the end of the queue to see how long it was before deciding whether or not to stay.
Thousands of people have descended on ticket booths across the Chinese capital, Beijing, to get their hands on the last batch of Olympic tickets.
Police had to call in reinforcements at one sales centre near the main Olympic venues to hold back surging crowds. Tickets for high-profile events were snapped up in a matter of hours.
A total of 820,000 tickets went on sale from 0900 local time, but some people had been queuing for days. Buyers have been restricted to two tickets each. The biggest scrum appeared to take place at the booth near the main Olympic venues, where crowds had to be held back by police. Many waiting were drenched in sweat by the time they finally made it to the front of the queue. One man said he had managed to jump the queue at a particularly chaotic moment.
This sales centre was selling tickets for a number of high-profile events, including the much-sought-after 110m hurdles final. Chinese athlete Liu Xiang is the reigning Olympic champion in this event and tickets sold out in just half an hour. Tickets for diving events, another sport in which China excels, were gone in just a few hours. There were more orderly line-ups at other Olympic venues.
At the Workers' Stadium, where tickets for Olympic football matches were on sale, people had been queuing since Thursday. Many had brought stools to sit on, and something to eat and drink, as they waited in a queue that was several hundred metres long. Others shared cigarettes or stood in line fanning themselves as the morning temperature began to rise.
"We've been here all night. It wasn't too bad," said Song Lihua, as she stood holding an umbrella to shade herself from a sun that was struggling to break through the morning smog. Ms Song was near the front of the queue, but still expected she would have to wait another four or five hours. "They are too slow," she shouted, a call repeated by others. "There are only three tickets windows open." Others who had just arrived were amazed - and slightly depressed - to find so many people already waiting.
"The queue's too scary," said student Xie Gu, who had come up to Beijing from southern Zhejiang Province to get an Olympic ticket. The 20-year-old said he was going to walk to the end of the queue to see how long it was before deciding whether or not to stay.
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