Some of the best international hockey teams will gather in Beijing for the Good Luck Beijing Hockey Tournament next week in a test run for next year's Olympics.
Four men's and women's national teams will contest the event from August 8-13 to get a preview of the competition and facilities, but also to help the Beijing organizing committee iron out any glitches ahead of its finest hour next August.
The men's competitions will play host to 2004 Athens Olympic Games champions Australia, three-time Olympic gold medalists Pakistan and Malaysia and China.
Current world No 2 Argentina and No 3 Australia will hit it out against China and South Africa in the women's event.
The sides will test the newly completed arena inside the Beijing Olympic Park in the city's north.
Located inside the Olympic Green, the impressive facility boasts two fields that can seat a crowd of 17,000.
After extensive training, operational staff and volunteers hope to make the trial, in which sports management systems and technology will come under the microscope, run like clockwork.
The Chinese national hockey team has already given the facility the thumbs up after several training runs.
About 4,500 spectators are expected to watch each of the 16 matches during the Good Luck Games.
A week later the Good Luck Beijing International Archery Tournament will be held on the Olympic Green Archery Field to the north of the above site.
Sharp shooters from 28 countries have registered for the event, the only archery meet entailing Olympic standards and scale in Beijing this year, from August 20-26,
Spread across 8,609 sqm, the archery field boasts 4,740 seats for spectators and officials.
(China Daily August 1, 2007)
