Last round of Olympic ticket sales set to start

A ticketing staff displays sample tickets for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing April 23, 2008. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) unveiled the sample tickets at a news conference on Wednesday. The tickets, with the "lucky cloud" and the Bird's Nest designs will go on sale for the third round starting from May 5.

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The third and last round of domestic ticket sales for the Beijing Olympics will start next month with 1.38 million tickets on offer, organizers announced yesterday.

From May 5 to June 9, tickets for 244 events in 16 sports, including athletics, boxing, basketball and football, will be available.

People are allowed to buy a maximum of six tickets at one time, three each for two sessions.

Tickets are available at Bank of China outlets or on the official ticketing website on a "first come, first served" basis.

"There are roughly 100 days to go before the Games opens. We don't have enough time for a lottery draw," said Zhu Yan, director of the Olympic Ticketing Center.

"For most of the matches, there are thousands of tickets available, so people don't need to rush," he added.

An overwhelming demand caused the computer system to crash just a few hours after the second sales phase started six months ago, forcing organizers to revert to a lottery system.

Zhu promised it would not happen again.

"The system has been optimized and updated and it is being tested right now," Zhu said. "I am confident that the system will meet the requirement of customers," he said.

Bank of China is also ready.

"We have learnt from the previous two stages," said Xu Chen, general manager of Bank of China's Olympic affairs department.

"Since there are not many hot tickets for the third phase, there won't be a rush."

People who book through the website can get their tickets printed anytime during the third phase; and those who pay at Bank of China outlets will get tickets on site.

Tickets for disabled people and their companions will be sold through telephone reservation on the Gehua Ticketmaster Ticketing customer service platform.

A total of 6.8 million tickets are available, of which about 75 percent are for sale domestically, according to reports.

The organizers are still in discussions with other national or regional Olympic committees on ticket allocation, because most of them are asking for more.

"The tickets allocated for people outside China are much more than the previous Games. We will continue to try to balance the demands from different countries."

Also yesterday, the designs for the Olympic tickets were unveiled: Featuring "Lucky Cloud" images, the design is a combination of traditional Chinese culture and the Olympic spirit.

The tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies also drew on the images of the "Bird's Nest" and those for different competitions are marked by different sports pictograms.

Advanced anti-counterfeit technologies have been used and "it is almost impossible to create fake tickets", Zhu said.

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Uganda Olympics Committee urges Tibetan separatists to keep politics out of Beijing Olympics

KAMPALA, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Uganda Olympics Committee (UOC) has urged Tibetan separatists to keep politics out of the Beijing Olympics, saying that the event is a symbol of unity among the people of the world with deferent political, religious, and tribal differences.

Frank Nyangweso, the President of the UOC, told Xinhua in an interview here Wednesday that it was unfortunate that the separatists are bent on disorganizing the games slated to start in August as they have done to the torch relay.

"China should be given chance to host the games peacefully. I hope the games will be peaceful and hope we will not have the same situation that we have seen with the torch relay," he said.

"The Tibet issue is a Chinese internal issue which should not be internationalized," he said.

He said mixing politics with the Olympics would lead to more divisions in the world instead of uniting it, a wish the International Olympic Committee has always had.

Meanwhile, Nyangweso said Uganda would send a 50-member delegation to the Beijing Olympic Games.

Marvin Stone:Ex-College Player Dies After Collapsing

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (April 1) - Former Kentucky and Louisville basketball player Marvin Stone died Tuesday after collapsing during halftime of a game in Saudi Arabia. He was 26.

Louisville spokesman Kenny Klein said Stone died of an apparent heart attack. Stone had signed a contract with Ittihad Jeddah earlier in the week and was playing in the team's Elite Cup semifinal game when he fell ill.

Stone's agent, Hirant Manakian, said Stone was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Stone was a McDonald's All-American at Grissom High in Huntsville, Ala., where he was named Mr. Basketball in 1999. He spent three seasons at Kentucky before transferring to Louisville, where he averaged 10.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots during his senior year in 2002-03.

"It really saddens all of us at U of L to see a young man like Marvin lose his life at such a young age," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the Stone family."

Stone's decision to leave the Wildcats and transfer to the rival Cardinals was initially met with resistance by then-Kentucky coach Tubby Smith. Stone enlisted attorney Behrouz Rahmati to help fight for the transfer until Smith relented and granted Stone a release.

"I vividly remember it was a very difficult process for both Marvin and his mother," said Rahmati. "But what I recall about Marvin was that he remained strong through the process and obviously hopeful. He just wanted to play basketball and he's the kind of guy, even if he wasn't able to transfer or we were not able to get the release, he would have stayed at Kentucky and played his heart out."

Stone played professionally overseas and had recently completed the season with a team in Cyprus before signing a short-term contract with Ittihad Jeddah according to Manakian.

Bob Lobel : Big names to sign off in WBZ cuts

Television sportscasting legend Bob Lobel is leaving WBZ-TV (Channel 4) as part of a workforce reduction announced earlier this week at the station.

Veteran entertainment reporter Joyce Kulhawik and newsman Scott Wahle will be leaving, too, said Ro Dooley Webster, a station spokeswoman, in an interview early this morning. She declined to discuss specifics of their departures.

She did, however, say that she doesn't expect any other high-profile talent to leave.

The station, like other media outlets across the country, is facing increasing pressure to cut costs as it grapples with declining ad revenues and viewership. On Monday, the station announced plans to reduce its overall workforce of 220 by 10 percent.

Lobel joined the station in 1979 as a weekend sports newscaster and moved to the weeknight position two years later, ac cording to a biography posted on the station's website. On Sunday nights, he also hosts "Sports Final," a weekly roundup. The show's guests once included Bobby Orr, Ted Williams, and Larry Bird, interviewed together for the very first time.

Kulhawik, whose reporting career at the station began in 1981, has secured many an interview with top Hollywood stars as they market their movies.

A former English teacher at Brookline High School and a cancer survivor, Kulhawik has been deeply involved with the American Cancer Society.

Wahle, who has been with the station since 1989, is currently a reporter and anchor of the station's 9 p.m. newscast on sister station WSBK-TV (Channel 38).

Neither Lobel, Kulhawik, nor Wahle could be reached for comment. The dates of their last on-air appearances have not yet been decided, Webster said.