BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The first phase of ticket sales for the 2008 Olympic Games has come to a close with more than 700,000 people booking over 4.9 million tickets, officials said on Sunday.

    "By 24:00 last night, we have received more than 700,000 orders," said Rong Jun, director of the Beijing 2008 Ticketing Center.

    "More orders are expected to come in the next few days as some are delivered by mail," he added.

    According to Rong, of the 700,000 orders, about 90 per cent were over the Internet, with the rest through Bank of China branches or by mail.

    Though bookings far exceeded the supply volume of 2.7 million tickets for the first phase from April 15 to June 30, it doesn't mean all are sold out, said Rong.

    "Orders are relatively centralized," he explained. "Some hot events such as the opening and closing ceremonies are over-subscribed, while a few other events are a little unpopular."

    Last week, Rong said it was certain that the distribution of the opening and closing ceremonies' tickets will be decided by lot. Other popular ticket choices were for football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, diving and gymnastics.

    Tickets will be assigned between July and August before the second leg of domestic sales kick off in October and run through December.

    In a country with a population of 1.3 billion, many believe that only the luckiest will have chance of watching the Games, though three-quarters of the seven million very affordable tickets are reserved for domestic sales.

    To offer the largest number of people the opportunity, Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) has limited the number of tickets each individual can buy - one each for the opening and closing ceremonies, and two tickets for events in high demand. For other competitions, each buyer will be limited to three to five tickets based on demand.