There'll be over 7 million tickets available for the Beijing Olympics. The news was divulged by the head of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) who also revealed that the majority of tickets would be inexpensive. 
   
"Excluding those reserved for the 'Olympic family', which includes sponsors, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sports federation officials over 7 million tickets will be sold to the general public," said BOCOG chief Liu Qi.
   
"We will start to sell tickets to contracted corporate clients in September and tickets will go on sale to the public in the first half of next year," he added.
   
The Olympic Games are the world's most popular sporting event and many local citizens were concerned that they would not to be able to afford to get access to the competitions.
   
But Liu said the organizers had taken into consideration "the situation in China" when setting the prices. "Except for the opening and closing ceremonies and a few popular events the majority of tickets will be very, very cheap," said Liu. "We hope that all Chinese have a chance to come and watch the Games."
   
Liu said the BOCOG would unveil ticket prices for the Games following final approval from the IOC.
   
In China people can purchase tickets through an official ticketing agent which has yet to be named, Liu said. All others would require to purchase tickets through their corresponding national Olympic committees.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2006)