October the 17th should be an exciting day for Chinese NBA fans: the Houston Rockets will take on the Sacramento Kings in Beijing in what should be a must-watch match. Many fans though will have to be happy with seeing the game on TV as all tickets were sold out - even before they were due to go for sale.

By 11 pm Saturday, there was already a long queue waiting outside the China Performing Arts Agency ticketing office. Agency staff said that hundreds of ticket buyers had been queuing for two days. On the eve of the official opening, more than a thousand people were outside the doors anxiously . Because of the crowds, the agency decided to sell the tickets a day earlier on Saturday, and called in security to ensure the sales went smoothly.

The buyers needed to show their ID card and each lucky fan could purchase at most, four temporary tickets. From October 8th to 16th, ticket holders will then convert their temporary tickets to real ones. More than 4,000 temporary tickets were sold on Saturday night, and the agency had to put up a sold-out sign in order to disperse the remaining crowd. However,on Sunday morning, hundreds of fans were still coming to the office, only to see a frustrating sold-out sign.

Staff advised the unfortunate would-be buyers to see the pre-season game on CCTV instead of in person.

(CCTV September 15, 2004)