Organizers of the Beijing Olympics said on Wednesday that about 6 million tickets for the August 8-24 Games have been purchased, accounting for 86 percent of the total tickets available for sale.

A woman receives her tickets for the 2008 Beijing Olympics at a Bank of China outlet in Beijing in this file photo. [Xinhua]

Zhu Yan, head of the Beijing Olympics Ticketing Center, told a press conference that around 1 million tickets remain unsold now and the majority of them are the tickets for soccer competitions in the four co-host cities -- Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

"We plan to put on sale the remaining tickets in late July, and people will be able to buy tickets at the Olympic venues by then," said Zhu.

According to Zhu, of the six million tickets that have been sold, the Chinese domestic public purchased 3.43 million, including 800, 000 reserved for the primary and middle-school students, while the rest went to the National Olympic Committees, the International Federations, the International Olympic Committee and sponsors.

Zhu said that as many as 185 NOCs have booked Olympic tickets, and it is a proof of the attraction of the Beijing Games.

"As far as we know, 185 is a record number in the history of the Olympic Games," he said. "So judging from the ticket sales, we can say that the Beijing Olympics is a grand party of the Olympic family."

Meanwhile, Zhu also announced that 830,000 tickets for the September6-17 Paralympic Games will go on sale across China as of Friday, with the price ranging from 30 yuan (about US$ 4.35) to 80 yuan (about US$ 11.6).

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)