>MR Xu Yonghe wants tickets to the Olympics and he is willing to camp out in\ sweltering heat on a dusty path for 45 hours to get them.
The Beijing resident was at the head of a line of thousands waiting on lawn chairs, under tents or on bamboo mats
for the last batch of Olympic tickets that go on sale this morning, reported AP.
About 250,000 tickets will go on sale, left over after three previous rounds of domestic sales decided by a lottery system.
Mr Xu, with an umbrella to keep the sun off him, has been waiting since noon Wednesday.
About 10,000 people behind him also were waiting to buy tickets - priced from US$15 ($32) to US$117 ) - for football, baseball, gymnastics, diving and track-and-field events.
Those who weren't as patient could hire someone to wait in line for them. One migrant worker stood near the
line peddling his services for US$45 - half his normal monthly salary - to anyone wanting to buy a ticket but not willing to spend a night.
Meanwhile, Beijing police have warned that anyone caught scalping Olympic tickets will be detained for 10 to 15 days, according to a Beijing Times report yesterday. Police also warned that tickets from scalpers may not be the genuine stuff.
About 6.8 million Olympic tickets have been made available for domestic and foreign sales. The Games officially open on 8 Aug.
This article was first published in The New Paper on July 25, 2008.
