One thousand volunteers swore in and started working in the Beijing Olympics' co-host city of Tianjin on Thursday.

Tianjin, a large city adjacent to Beijing, will host a total of 11 men's and women's football group stage matches and a women's football quarterfinal from Aug. 6-15. Teams from more than 20 countries and regions have also set up their pre-Olympic training bases in the city.

Among the 1,000 volunteers, 80 will go to Beijing, 20 will serve the Beijing Paralympics, 800 will serve the Olympic football matches in Tianjin and 100 are for the Olympic torch relay in Tianjin. All the volunteers were selected from 50,000 candidates.

From last November, the 1,000 volunteers have passed a series of examinations and physical tests and received general training. They also took the 2010 FIFA World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers in Tianjin as a practice run for the upcoming Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)