(Beijing, September 12) The "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 International Goalball Tournament will be held at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on September 13-16. At a pre-tournament press conference held on the afternoon of September 12, Yang Bin, executive president of the event organizing committee and venue manager, said that everything is ready and he expected the tournament to be a complete success.

According to Yang, the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium, venue for Beijing Olympic volleyball and Paralympic goalball competitions, was delivered for use on August 17. At present, all staff and venue team members are ready for the 2007 International Goalball Tournament scheduled to open tomorrow.

In his briefing on the participating teams, Competition Manager Sun Chengmin said that the Beijing tournament is going to be a high-level event, with five of the eight teams currently ranking among the world's top six, and six of them, including the Chinese men's team, having qualified for next year's Olympic Games. Moreover, the event is considered very important as it will help test the overall operation of the venue and supporting facilities as well as all kinds of services to be provided for the 2008 Paralympic Games.

Following Sun's briefing Wang Guiming, deputy secretary-general of the venue team, Wang Changhe, manager of Paralympic competition, and Fei Yibing, deputy media manager, gave updates on renovation of the venue and its barrier-free facilities and media operation. According to them the competition-related services and facilities have all been recognized by the technical delegate from the International Blind Sport Federation (IBSA), the governing body of the sport of goalball, after an on-the-spot inspection of the venue.