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The Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 tickets will be available from August 25. The Opening and Closing ceremonies of the XIX Commonwealth Games have attracted the maximum interest, so far contributing 25 per cent of the sales. Among the sporting events, hockey is the front-runner, accounting for 14 per cent of the tickets sold so far, followed by athletics at 11 per cent and gymnastics at 10 per cent. Swimming is at the fourth spot with 8 per cent share of sales. After a sedate start, when the sale of tickets began through the internet, the register is clicking fast every day with the opening of retail outlets across New Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). People have been queuing up at the ticket counters to ensure their presence in the much-awaited Games. Apart from the Indian market, Australia leads the tally with maximum number of buyers for tickets followed by New Zealand and Britain. Tickets can be bought from 20 selected Central Bank of India branches as well as seven nominated Hero Honda showrooms as well as the IRCTC outlet in Central Delhi. All the ticket related information regarding list of the outlets and booking is available on www.tickets.cwgdelhi2010.org. The holders of the coupons from the website and Call Centers can redeem these for actual tickets from August 25 onwards from three outlets in Delhi -- two branches of Central Bank of India at Organising Committee Headquarters and Parliament Street and IRCTC outlet at Central Delhi. Apart from Delhi, tickets will also be available in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. The Organising Committee is confident of the entire stock of 17 lakh tickets being booked ahead of the Commonwealth Games opening on October 3. An added incentive for ticket-holders is free Metro and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) rides on the day of the event, including the Opening and Closing ceremonies, All ticket-holders will be allowed one to and fro ride on the Metro and DTC buses for that specific day. The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, in an effort to make the tickets accessible to fans across the city and even to people staying in other parts of the country and abroad, has offered four avenues to book these tickets. Though people can buy tickets over the internet, through a dedicated Call Centre and from the retails outlets during the games tickets will be made available through dedicated box offices as well. Internet sales gave the initial fillip to the sales that began in June. People buying the tickets online on the official Commonwealth Games website were provided with an acknowledgement voucher that enables them to pick up the tickets from the retail outlets. Those booking tickets through the Call Centre (1800-200-1294 and 1800-102-1294) can use credit cards to buy tickets. They would be given a transaction number which can be used to collect tickets from retail outlets. The first phase of the three-phase ticket sale process was exclusively through the Commonwealth Games ticketing website, while second phase enables people to access the retail outlets as well. At the retail outlets, direct purchases can be made and those holding vouchers can also procure actual tickets there. The third phase will give people access to venue outlets as well.

Delhi CWG 2010 tickets to be launched on August 25