Third round of domestic ticket sales to start in May

Source: Xinhua | 04-23-2008 15:10

BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Organizers of the Beijing Olympics announced on Wednesday that the third round of domestic ticket sales will start from May 5 and close on June 9.

A total of 1.38 million tickets will be put on sale for 16 sports, including athletics, boxing, basketball, football. Buyers are allowed to purchase a maximum of six tickets _ three tickets each for two session _ but they could buy six more once payment is made.

Ticket will be sold on a "first come, first served" basis at Bank of China outlets and on the official ticketing website, Zhu Yan, head of the Olympics ticketing center, told a press conference.

"There are roughly 100 days to go before the Games open. We don't have enough time for a lottery draw," said Zhu.

Zhu promised that the meltdown of the booking system which disrupted the earlier round of ticket sales would not happen again.

"I have confidence in the system because the ticketing sponsors have made a lot of improvement," he said.

The design for the tickets was also unveiled on Wednesday. It has drawn on the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, and the cloud of promise as the main visual elements, said Zhu.

"We have adopted a series of anti-counterfeiting technologies in the process of designing the tickets. It is almost impossible to create fake tickets," he said.

Editor:Xiong Qu