The Hindu Business Line : Six sports emerge favourites for Indians heading to Olympics

New Delhi, Dec. 24 Football, tennis, shooting, hockey, kabadi, and badminton are emerging as the favourite sports for Indians heading for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics.

The Country Manager, Air China, Mr Zhao Quanzhen, told Business Line that the airlines’ promotional scheme of offering a free ticket to the Olympic games for passengers booking with them had seen most passengers seek tickets for these six sporting events.

“In India, the airline has sold more than 200 packages for the games. This time the trend is to stay put in Beijing or travel to some nearby city and watch the games,” Mr Quanzhen said. The 15 day sporting event opens on August 8 next year.

Special packages

The airline, which is the official carrier for the games, has special packages for both business and economy class passengers. While those travelling in business class are being offered free hotel accommodation with the game ticket, an economy class ticket offers a chance to watch the games.

But forget about flying with the airline for the opening ceremony as the tickets are completely sold out, officials said, and added that there was heavy booking pressure on the flights during the period of the Olympics.

Meanwhile, the airline, which currently operates four times a week between Delhi and Beijing, is keen to not only increase this to a daily frequency but also increase its network to include Mumbai and Kolkata. “We are ready to fly to both the cities and hope to be able to do so soon. There should be no problem as the bilateral air service agreement allows us to operate these flights,” Mr Quanzhen said.

At the moment, about 7-lakh Indians visit China annually, which Air China officials feel is something which needs to be corrected.

“There has been an increase in Indian students travelling to China, especially those wanting to study medicine,” Mr Quanzhen added.

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