Beijing  - Six-time world number one Svetlana Kuznetsova will make her fifth appearance at the 4.55-million-dollar WTA year-end championships from October 27 to November 1 in Doha after becoming the fifth player to qualify for the wrap-up.  Read more »

Beijing, Oct 18 : China has decided to continue with the relaxed rules for foreign journalists operating from the country. The relaxed rules which were temporarily adopted for the Beijing Games, allowed the foreign journalists to conduct interviews of individuals or organizations without prior permission from the local foreign affairs office.  Read more »

Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday promised that his country would develop a "rich legacy" from holding the Paralympic Games, which closed with another spectacular ceremony in Beijing's "Bird's Nest" national stadium.

The 2008 Paralympics will "leave a rich legacy to the advancement of the well-being of people with a disability", Hu said in a speech at a lunch for foreign dignitaries attending the closing ceremony on Wednesday evening.  Read more »

Beijing  - The 2008 Paralympic Games were officially opened by China's President Hun Jintao in Beijing on Saturday.

"I declare the Paralympic Games of Beijing open," Hu said towards the end a spectacular opening ceremony before 91,000 people in Beijing's "Bird's Nest" national stadium.  Read more »

Beijing - The Olympic atmosphere is suddenly back in Beijing: "Two Games with equal splendour" have been promised by the organizers when the 13th Paralympics begin on Saturday evening with  Read more »

Beijing - Organizers of the 2008 Paralympic Games on Tuesday said they had sold or given away 1.19 million tickets, or nearly three-quarters of the 1.65 million available.  Read more »

Beijing, Aug. 30: The municipal government in Beijing has invested about 67 million Yuan (10 million U. S. dollars) for building barrier-free facilities in 60 tourist attractions ahead of the Paralympics.

According to Xinhua, the facilities include 12,028 square meters of wheelchair ramps and 3,183 meters of handrails.  Read more »

Beijing - The Beijing Olympic Games ended just as they had began Sunday, with a glittering extravaganza as China made full use of one final opportunity to showcase itself to a world audience.

"The Olympic flame is not extinguished, instead, it will burn in the heart of each of us," was the message of the performance, according to Zhang Yimou, artistic director of the opening and closing ceremony, and the final event was certainly one that will live long in the memory.  Read more »

Beijing - The 2008 Olympics drew an estimated television audience of 4.4 billion in the first 10 days, setting a new viewing record for an Olympic Games, market research firm Nielsen said on Sunday.

The estimated audience from August 8-17 surpassed the 3.9 billion viewers for the whole of the Athens games in 2004 and the 3.6 billion who watched the 2000 event in Sydney, the company said in a press release.  Read more »

Sydney - Australians on Sunday rushed to embrace gold-winning diver Matthew Mitcham who emerged from the Beijing pool both giant-killer and a gay icon.

The 20-year-old charmer shed tears after a near-perfect final dive edged him above the hot favourite to the top place on the podium. It was the eighth and last medal in the diving and everyone expected China's Zhou Luxin to triumph.

"Everything, absolutely everything I have done, has been for this," he said. "Now it's happened and I never thought it would."  Read more »