Scene of the press conference

(Beijing, December 4) At a press conference held at the newly-built Peking University Gymnasium (PKG) on December 3, the event organizing committee announced that the 2007 Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals will be held at the PKG from December 13 to 16, followed by the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 Table Tennis International Invitational Tournament to be held from December 18 to 19.

The 2007 Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals and the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 Table Tennis International Invitational Tournament are the first international events held at PKG after its inauguration and the last two events of this year's "Good Luck Beijing" Sport Events.

Zhang Yan, executive president of the organizing committee and director of the PKG operation team

The 2007 Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals is a calendar event of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) with all its competitors determined. The final entries include such top players as Wang Hao, Ma Lin, Wang Liqing, Chen Qi and Hao Shuai of China, Olympic men's singles defending champion Ryu Seung Min of Korea, Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, Li Jing of Hong Kong China and Chuan Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei on the men's side, Zhang Yining, Wang Nan, Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yan of China, Li Jiawei of Singapore, Fukuhara Ai of Japan and Tie Yana of Hong Kong China on the women's side, making the event a high-level competition and a good test for the comprehensive capability of the venue and its operation team. The grand finals consists of six individual events: namely men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and U21 men's and women's singles, among which the first four events will be conducted under the elimination system.

The "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 Table Tennis International Invitational Tournament scheduled for December 18-19 was set up specially for testing the table tennis team competition of the 2008 Olympic Games. The men's team event, involving China, Hong Kong China, Korea and a united team from Europe, will also adopt the knockout system; while the women's team event, involving China, Hong Kong China, Singapore and Europe United, will use the round robin system.

At the press conference the organizing committee also announced the prices of the tickets to the table tennis events. The prices of the tickets to the Pro Tour Grand Finals range from RMB20 to 100 on the first two days (December 13-14) and from RMB120 to 160 on December 15-16; and the prices of the tickets to the invitational tournament on December 18-19 range from RMB20 to 100. Every day a total of 3,500 tickets will be sold, through the official website of the "Good Luck Beijing" Sport Events and www.piaowutong.com, or at the ticketing office at the southeast gate of Peking University.

Located at the southeast corner of Peking University and eight kilometers from the Olympic Village, the Peking University Gymnasium is the venue built specially for table tennis competition of the 2008 Olympic Games. It is also the first table tennis venue in the world. The design and construction of the venue embodies the concepts of "Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics". The venue, scientifically and technologicallysophisticated with its steel structure consisting of seven supporting systems and remote-controlled illuminating system as well as ground source heat pump system and siphon drainage, is rated as the most advanced Olympic venue by architectural experts. The exterior covered with large-span steel structure, similar to a spinning table tennis ball, is known as "Chinese Spine". The venue, completed on November 26, 2007, covers an area of 26,900 square meters and has four floors and two underground floors and has 7,557 fixed and mobile seats during competition.

According to the organizers, a total of 534 volunteers from Peking University, Beijing Sport University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing International Studies University and Capital Institute of Physical Education, including 155 with professional knowledge, will work for the two events.