Berlin - German organizers have sold almost 200,000 of the 500,000 tickets on offer for the world athletics championships in Berlin, it was announced on Thursday.

Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit spoke of "strong demand at this early stage" at a news conference in which the organizing committee also said it was "on track" in its preparations for the August 15-23 event.

Ticket sales are to generate 15 million euros (19.4 million dollars) for the overall event budget of 44 million euros.

German athletics supremo Clemens Prokop promised that "these world championships will set a new standard" and expressed his hope that the recently struggling German team will garner nine medals. (dpa)