Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The planned international route of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic torch relay was cancelled, announced the Beijing 2008 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) here on Wednesday.

    Due to the devastating May 12 earthquake that struck China, BOCOG has decided to modify arrangements for the Paralympic torch relay under the principle of "safe, simple and effective".

    According to BOCOG, those changes have been made to afford the Chinese government to focus on the rescue and relief work and show support for the people affected by the earthquake.

    Changes to the Paralympic torch relay include shortened domestic routes calling off four stops of Chengdu, Chongqing, Urumqi and Tianjin, simplified procedures and the cancellation of the international route of the relay which was due to pass through Vancouver in Canada, London in Britain and Sochi in Russia. Besides, the Hong Kong stop was also snuffed out.

    Nevertheless, the committee welcomes all overseas torch bearers to join the domestic relay, a BOCOG official told Xinhua.

    The official expressed BOCOG's thanks to the International Paralympic Committee, the National Paralympic Committee of countries concerned, the international community as well as the government and people from the four cities -- Vancouver, London, Sochi and the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.

    The BOCOG will spare no effort on holding both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the official said.

    The Beijing 2008 Paralympic torch relay was to be the first to include an international leg. The BOCOG announced the planned torch relay routes last September, including 16 domestic legs, 3 international legs and Hong Kong.