Olympics ticket deadline extended after China quake

Subscribers who bought tickets for the Beijing Olympics in the third round of domestic sales will have an extra 10 days to pay after Monday's earthquake in southwest China killed thousands, Games organisers said.

Buyers were due to pay by last Tuesday but now had until May 23 after China's worst earthquake in three decades prevented some people from paying, China's Olympic Ticketing Centre announced in a statement.

The online booking system would continue service until the planned end of the third phase domestic sale on June 9, it added, despite the fact that tickets to events in Beijing and Hong Kong had already sold out.

The third round of domestic sales started with 1.38 million tickets up for grabs on May 5. A total of 7 million tickets will be made available to the general public for the August 8-24 Games.