(Beijing, December 19) After the conclusion of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 Table Tennis International Invitational Tournament at the Peking University Gymnasium this evening, Zhang Yan, director of the PKG venue team, said that his team merits a grade of B (75-85) on their overall operation of the event.

Within the past seven days, the Peking University Gymnasium successfully hosted the 2007 Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals on December 13-16 and 2007 Table Tennis International Invitational Tournament on December 18-19, the last two of the "Good Luck Beijing" Sport Events for 2007.

Statistics show that 57 players from 16 countries and regions took part in the six-day competitions, attracting some hundred journalists. A total of 10,042 tickets were sold, and the revenue of 1.15 million yuan from the ticket sales turned out to be the highest of all the previous "Good Luck Beijing" events held so far.

According to Zhang Yan, these events were of utmost importance to the success of next year's Olympic Games, as through the events the venue operation, including the abilities of the venue team, transportation, security, competition management and protocol service were all put to test. Moreover, Zhang added, they have built up an effective communication channel with the ITTF, the governing body of the sport of table tennis, the Chinese Table Tennis Association and local governmental departments at different levels.

"Our team stood the test by maintaining the smooth going of the two events," concluded Zhang, "particularly when some emergency occurred." However, Zhang admitted that much has remained to be improved when it comes to delivering a perfect Olympic competition in the year 2008. He revealed that they will make further renovation of the venue after soliciting opinions from the participating ITTF officials, players and media and strive to do a job satisfactory to all at the 2008 Olympic Games proper.