With meticulous preparation, Muscat will host a successful Beijing Olympic torch relay on April 14, Habib Macki, vice chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC), told Xinhua on Saturday.
Muscat, the ninth leg of the 21-city global torch relay outside China's mainland, is the only Arab city that the Olympic flame for the Beijing Olympic Game will visit.
Macki, who is in charge of the torch relay in Muscat, expressed gratitude to the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG), saying "we are very pleased and happy to hear the confirmation in 2007 that Muscat can host the event."
According to the vice chairman, Muscat was the first city that applied for hosting the torch relay, which was dated back to the year of 2005.
This is also the first time for Muscat to host an Olympic relay. Macki said he is very proud that Muscat can be the only Arab city that hosts the torch relay.
Muscat is an ancient city and it enjoyed traditional friendship with China, he noted.
Macki said all staff have been ready to receive the torch. The OOC will organize more than ten thousand people to watch the 20-kilometer torch relay that will begin at al Bustan Palace roundabout, in the center of which there's a wooden dhow that visited China in 1981 after a voyage of eight months which finally reached Guangzhou, a harbor city in southeast China.
The Omani delegation to the Beijing Olympic Games is not big but it is important to participate in the games, Macki said, adding that they also want to see how the Chinese advance the Olympic Games.
Macky said he hopes that he can attend the Olympic opening ceremony.
He admitted he is very regretful that he had to leave China Thursday as soon as the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) closed in Beijing because he has to make the preparation of the torch relay and missed the visit to the Olympic stadiums.
But he said that Beijing has given him a good impression since it is improving every time he visited China and he hopes that China can host an Olympic Games.
The sacred flame of the Beijing Olympic Games will arrive in Muscat next Monday for a torch relay in the city.
The 2008 Olympic flame was ignited on March 24 in Ancient Olympia of Greece and was handed over to Beijing on March 31 after a six-day relay in Greece.
The 130-day torch relay will cover 137,000 kilometers before the flame returns to Beijing and enters the National Stadium on Aug. 8 for the Olympic opening ceremony.
(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2008)