The women's soccer tournament of the Beijing Olympics kicked off at 5 p.m. Wednesday simultaneously in Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao, while the other three co-host cities vow to provide best services.

Before the tournament started, all the eight men's and women's soccer teams who will have their preliminaries in Tianjin, have trained in the city's landmark "Water Drop" stadium.

Canadian women's team coach Even Pellerud noted that the competition venue and accommodation place in Tianjin were good and the team was satisfied.

The Sheraton Tianjin Hotel and the King Hall Hotel, both designated as the official accommodation for the Olympians, and training venues in the city have all closed to public to ensure the smooth going of matches.

The "Water Drop" stadium was once the venue for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2008 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Its competition, media and reception services have proved reaching the standards of hosting Olympic matches.

In Qinhuangdao where Japan took on New Zealand, has taken similar measures as Beijing did to facilitate the Olympic matches.

To ensure smooth transport, Qinhuangdao imposed a traffic control on cars with odd or even numbers ending on alternate days and reserved special Olympic lanes on its roads.

When 2007 World Cup champion Germany met then runner-up Brazil in Shenyang, the city is fully prepared to provide considerate services to not only athletes but journalists.

"Our facilities are set up strictly in line with the requirements raised by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG), and we will provide adequate translation services for press conferences," said Bo Shaoyang, an official in charge of media affairs in Shenyang Olympic venue.

"We are confident of providing timely and effective services for media, as we have rehearsed for several times on holding press conferences and responding to emergencies," Bo said.

In another co-host city Qingdao, barriers and fences have been installed to keep algae out of the Olympic sailing venue, which covers 50 square kilometers.

The local government's monitoring results show that the seawater at the Olympic sailing venue and its neighboring area has met the Olympic requirements. Beside, the air was very clean.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,000 volunteers were in position in Shanghai Stadium that will stage 12 soccer matches, and 20,000 square meters of turfs were on standby.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has spent more than 1.2 billion HK dollars (154 million U.S. dollars) on the design, construction and maintenance of two equestrian competition venues.

To ensure the success of the equestrian events, the Hong Kong SAR government had established the Equestrian Committee to coordinate intergovernmental work in such areas as security, transport, medical and quarantine services.

The committee set up its executive arm in the form of a company to organize the equestrian events.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2008)