More than 230,000 people have placed orders for over 1,090,000 tickets to the Beijing Olympic Games since the sales kicked off a month ago, officials said on Tuesday.

 

Rong Jun, head of the Olympic Ticketing Center, said that the tickets to the opening ceremony, basketball and diving competitions are among the best sellers, but didn't give more details.

 

In a country with a population of 1.3 billion, many believe that only the luckiest have a chance of watching the Games on spot, though three-quarters of the 7 million tickets will be reserved for domestic sales.

 

All the tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies as well as half of the tickets to 28 sports are on offer in the first phase, and people can wait until June 30 to place their orders. Tickets will be assigned between July and August.

 

For oversubscribed events, a random computerized selection process will be used, the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) said.

 

The second leg of domestic sales will start in October and run through December.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2007)