Japan's Olympic delegation will carry 500 dust masks for industrial use to guard against the notorious air pollution in Beijing, a corporate official said Monday. Koken, a major Japanese maker of respirators, gas masks and air purifiers, has provided the masks for free to the Japanese Olympic Committee for possible use in training at the Beijing Games. “These are not the kind of masks that are sold at drug stores to protect yourself from flu or hay fever,” said Kohei Kubo, an official at Koken's life safety division. “They are used at dusty factories and other industrial sites, as well as hospitals, where they are used to prevent infections,” he said. The masks can cut by more than 95 percent the number of small particles that the athletes would inhale, he said. They are equipped with superlight filters, each weighing 11 grams, and an exhaust valve. The company recommended the products to the national Olympic committee last year as international concern grew about Beijing's air pollution, Kubo said. “We provided the products to the committee in mid-July and they are bringing them as a precaution,” he said. Poor air quality in Beijing has prompted International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge to warn it could result in the suspension of some events, particularly endurance races such as the marathon. Many athletes have delayed arriving in Beijing until the last minute to avoid bad air. Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie has already pulled out of the marathon over fears of damaging his health. On Monday, the Australian Olympic Committee said its athletes would be allowed to withdraw if pollution poses a threat. “For us the athlete's attitude to the event is paramount,” AOC vice president Peter Montgomery told reporters. For four days up to Monday, Beijing had not experienced a “blue sky day”, when the pollution index meets the national standard for “good air quality.” Beijing has closed many of the most polluting factories around the city and banned more than one million cars from the roads every day. Despite the measures, visibility in the city remained poor on Monday, and officials have warned they may need to take more drastic steps to clear the skies ahead of the Games. Tickets sold out All tickets to Olympic events in Beijing have been sold, organizers said Monday, putting the games on course to be the first to ever sell out. “Tickets to watch competitive events of the 2008 Games in Olympic venues in Beijing are now sold out,” said a brief notice on the Beijing Games' Web site. “BOCOG fully appreciates the consideration offered by supporters for Beijing Olympic ticket sales,” it said, identifying the organizing committee by its initials. With enthusiasm among home fans running at fever pitch, the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games are expected to be played out in front of full venues, although tickets that went to sponsors and the national Olympic committees of participating countries may not all get used. In all, 6.8 million Olympic tickets have been available for domestic and foreign sales. The release of a final batch of 250,000 tickets sparked chaotic scenes in Beijing on Friday, as a crowd of 30,000 swarmed a Beijing ticketing center. Police shoved and kicked them, and used metal barricades to prevent a stampede among people who had stood in line for up to two days. Another 570,000 tickets went on sale for preliminary round soccer matches in the cities of Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao, where some tickets remained available. Li Dan, an official with the organizers' ticketing center, said organizers expected those matches to eventually sell out also. “We're still counting the number of remaining tickets, and it's hard to say when they'll be sold out,” Li said. The high demand has put massive pressure on the ticketing system and organizers had to suspend one round of domestic sales in November after overwhelming demand crashed the computerized ticketing system, prompting a switch to a lottery system. Ticket sales for past Olympics varied widely. The 2004 Athens Olympics sold only about two-thirds of 5.3 million tickets available, and there were many empty seats. The most expensive tickets in Beijing are for the Aug. 8 opening ceremony, which cost $645. Organizers said 58 percent of all tickets would cost $12.90 or less, in line with efforts to make them affordable to average Chinese citizens. Musharraf to attend opening ceremony Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and hold talks with his Chinese counterpart, the foreign ministry said Monday. Musharraf will attend the opening ceremony at the invitation of the Chinese government and also have an opportunity to meet other world leaders there, ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said.
