The first lawsuit involving a dispute over Olympic tickets reached a Beijing court yesterday.

The Fengtai District Court will determine ownership of four tickets in a case brought by a man surnamed Wang, who claimed he booked the tickets in another person's name in September but paid for them through his own bank account.

A court source said Wang, who is a company manager, asked one of his employees surnamed Wu to book him four Olympic tickets online. Wu used her own ID for the booking but put Wang's contact phone number on the application.

On June 28, Wang accused Wu of collecting the tickets without his knowledge and demanded she return either the tickets or his money.

Wang had paid 1,600 yuan ($234) for the tickets in his own name and had kept the bank receipt.

The court source did not disclose what events the tickets were for.

About 6 million Olympic tickets have been sold, Zhu Yan, head of the Beijing Olympics Ticketing Center, said last week.

The majority of the about 1 million unsold tickets are for football competitions in Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang, he said.

Ticket prices for the opening ceremony and some sports have surged with the Games to begin in less than a month.

(Xinhua News Agency, July 15, 2008)