Still plenty of work for Beijing, says IOC inspector

BEIJING, Apr 18 (Reuters) Beijing still has much work to do if it is to put on a ''high-level'' Olympics next year, chief IOC inspector Hein Verbruggen warned at the start of his visit to the Chinese capital.

The Dutchman said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would work increasingly closely with the Beijing organising committee (BOCOG) to produce a Games that would ''leave a strong impression on Olympic history''.

''We are now less than 500 days away... this is both exciting, and perhaps a little daunting,'' Verbruggen, who is leading the IOC's coordination commission on its eighth visit to Beijing, told state media.

''Much work still remains to be done, and the focus must be maintained on our joint objective -- giving the athletes a platform here in Beijing from which sporting feats and Olympic spirit can be achieved.'' BOCOG chief Liu Qi said his main priorities were venue construction, traffic, the environment and pollution, the torch relay, opening and closing ceremonies and ticketing, test events, foreign media services, mass participation and Olympic education.

The coordination commission visited the venues on Tuesday and will conclude their three-day inspection with a news conference tomorrow.

Demand for tickets for the Games, meanwhile, has been high after residents of China were able to reserve them online from Sunday.

BOCOG said the Web site (www.tickets.beijing2008.cn) had received 18 million hits over the first two days with 620,000 people now registered and more than 250,000 tickets reserved by 80,000 parties.

Three quarters of the seven million tickets, which range in price from 30 to 5,000 yuan, will be reserved for domestic sales.

Reuters SSC GC1048