Preparations are on in full swing at the Beijing Olympic Village, as the Beijing Olympics scheduled from August 8 - 24 at Beijing, China.
Not only the officials but also whole Chinese peoples especially young students of schools and colleges are contributing their part by working as volunteers in the Olympic preparation. It is like a century old dream coming true with the success of 29th edition of the Olympics.
The opening ceremony will be held at National Stadium on August 8th where the mega opening ceremony will take place where President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, U.S president George Bush and the head of the states over 68 countries will attend the ceremony.
The success of the event will brought cheers in the region, as the event would provide chance to meet peoples to each others from all over the world on a single platform.
The event will also provide an opportunity to china to show the world about Chinese old civilization, culture and custom.
During the Olympic games there would be 37 events, which would be held in Beijing only.
Sun Weide, Deputy Director, Communication of Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG) informed that more than 90 per cent of the tickets were sold out. He said that during the Athens Games 100 millions of people had applied for the tickets, where as for Beijing we have so far received 185 million requests for the tickets till now.
He further added that to make these games secure, safe and without any untoward incidents the Chinese security authorities are closely working with the Interpol and having a memorandum of understanding with the Greeks in terms of security.
He assured that China in general is a safe country and Beijing is the safest city. He told that we are confident of hosting successful and safe games here during Olympics.
During the opening ceremony China is highlighting two themes one is their old civilization and the other is harmony.
On the other hand 35-member squad will represent Pakistan in the mega event which already left for china to take part in the event.
The 35-member squad includes 21 players and 14 officials while Syed Aqil Shah, Provincial Minister for Sports appoint as Chef-de-Mission.
The 35-member Pakistan contingent of hockey, athletics, swimming, shooting and contingent officials will participate in the Olympic.
Officials: Muhammad Aqil Shah (chef-de-mission), Dr. Waqar Ahmed (doctor), Brig Saleem Nawaz (secretary), Muhammad Akhtar Nawaz Gungeera (finance secretary), Captain (retrd) Zafar Iqbal Awan (security official).
Athletics: Haji Khalid Mehmood (manager), Abdul Rasheed, Sadaf Siddiqui (players).
Swimming: Major Majid Waseem (manager), Venna Masood (women's coach), Adil Baig, Kiran Khan (players).
Shooting: Khalid Javad (manager) Saddique Umer (players).
Hockey: Zakauddin (manager-cum-coach), Naveed Alam (coach), Faizur Rahman (physio), Nadeem Ahmed Lodhi (video -analyst), Salam Akbar, Nasir Ali, Zeshan Ashraf (captain), Muhammad Imran (vice captain), Syed Imran Ali Warsi, Adnan Maqsood, Muhammad Saqlain, Rana Asif, Muhammad Javad, Muhammad Waqas, Rehan Butt, Shakil Abbasi, Muhammad Zubair, Shafqat Rasool, Waqas Akbar and Abbas Haider (players
Pakistan hockey team has qualified to participate in the Games after winning bronze medal in the 15th Asian Games held at Doha Qatar. The other sportspersons in athletics, swimming and shooting are participating on wild cards.
Among the Pakistani delegation for the Beijing field hockey is its main hopes for a Olympic medal. Pakistan is only qualified to compete in the men's field hockey and some of its players are also going to participate in the Beijing Olympics with wild cards. Pakistan, the three-time Olympic and four-time world champions, expects the country could retain its past glory in the 12-nation hockey event.
The Pakistan hockey team gained laurels for the country in the 1960, 1968 and 1984 Olympics separately, but has seen a slump in the past years.
Pakistan is placed in group B together with Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, Britain and South Africa. China, Germany, Spain, South Korea, New Zealand and Belgium are in group A.
While President Pakistan Olympic Association Lt Gen (R) Syed Arif Hasan said that Pakistan is also keen with the successful end of Beijing Olympics because China is very friendly towards everyone and Pakistan has very deep relations with her.
He said that China has made tremendous efforts to ensure the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing and I really hope they are a big success.
The Olympics are a unique occasion where people from different backgrounds are brought together and play sport in a spirit of friendship, free from discrimination, POA president said.
