(Beijing, October 8) The Good Luck Beijing 2007 International Badminton Invitational Tournament will open at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on October 10. The local organizing committee held a pre-event press conference at the competition venue on October 8 to brief the media on the venue preparation and competition management of the event.

Zhang Ailin, Executive President of the event organizing committee and director of the BJUT venue team, gave a brief account of the venue construction and team operation. He said that the venue, which will also be used by next years' Olympic badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions, was designed in line with Beijing's concepts of Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics.

As to the construction and management of the venue team, Zhang Ailin said that they had tried to improve the ability and performance of the team through a series of training clinics. Some 600 volunteers, selected from over 7,000 applicants through three selective rounds, have also received special training for their future work. These days, before the opening of the tournament, the venue team also had a comprehensive dress rehearsal so as to see where to improve.

According to Ren Chunhui, deputy director and competition manager of the BJUT Gymnasium, the 2007 International Badminton Invitational Tournament will have five events contested, namely men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with the participation of 113 players, 23 international technical officials, 10 international line judges and 71 domestic technical officials. The tournament will follow the competition rules of the Badminton World Federation and the first three places of each event will be determined by single eliminations and additional bronze-medal matches. Through this invitational tournament, Rend added, the venue and its supporting facilities and technical equipment, as well as the venue team's competition management and venue operation, will all undergo an overall test, thus laying a good foundation for hosting the Olympic competitions in 2008.