On April 23, BOCOG announced the timetable and policies in relation to the implementation of the Phase-3 Domestic Olympic Ticket Sales Program. Starting from 9am, May 5 to June 9, 2008, BOCOG will launch the Program. During this period, the public can buy tickets of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at designated BOC (Bank of China) ticket outlets or by logging on to the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. (The number of the ticket outlets during this stage will be fewer than that offered during the previous two phases. For further details, please log on to the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games or call the Olympic ticketing call centre at 952008.)

Similar to the first two phases, only applications from individual buyers will be accepted during the third phase of the Program. Group applications will therefore be considered ineligible. Applicants will use their valid ID cards for registration purposes (further details are available at the official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The purchase limit is two sessions per application and three tickets per session.

It is worth pointing out that tickets sold during this phase will be allocated uniformly on a real-time basis, regardless of the ticket purchase channels used. If the ticket (of a certain price range) requested by an applicant for a certain Olympic match is marked as available in the system, it will be reserved for the appropriate applicant for a specified period of time. In the event that the applicant fails to make the payment within the specified time limit, the ticket will be released to other applicants. Tickets for the people with disability and their companions will be sold in the manner of telephone reservation via the Gehua Ticketmaster Ticketing customer service platform.

According to BOCOG, a total of 1.38 million Olympic tickets will be released during the 3rd phase. Tickets released cover 16 Olympic sports which are subdivided into 17 disciplines and 244 matches. They include: athletics, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe/kayak-flatwater, mountain bike, equestrian, football, handball, hockey, modern pentathlon, rowing, softball, marathon swimming, volleyball and wrestling. In addition, tickets of "accessible" seats (totally 20,000) will be offered for all matches involved.

(China.org.cn April 23, 2008)