DUSHANBE, August 8, 2008, Asia-Plus — A ceremony of an official opening the 2008 Olympic Games will start in Beijing on 08.08.08, at 8:08 p.m. at Beijing time.
Along with leaders of more than 130 countries of the world President Emomali Rahmon will also attend the opening ceremony.
President Rahmon arrived in Beijing yesterday. Erkin Rahmatulloyev, State Adviser to the Tajik President for International Matters, and Maliksho Nematov, Chairman of the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan, are accompanying Rahmon on his visit to China.
We will recall that fifteen Tajik athletes have qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Among them hummer throwers Dilshod Nazarov and Galina Mityayeva; judo players Rasoul Boqiyev, Sherali Bozorov and Nematullo Asronqulov; free-style wrestlers Yusuf Abdusalomov and Vitaly Koryakin; boxers Anvar Yunusov, Jahon Qurbonov and Sherali Dostiyev; swimmers Yekaterina Izmaylova and Alisher Chingizov; female archer Albina Kamolitdinova; weightlifter Nizom Sangov, and Sergey Bibikov (sports shooting).
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, will be celebrated from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Some events will be held outside Beijing, namely football (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Tianjin), equestrian (in Hong Kong) and sailing (Qingdao). This will be the third time the Olympics are held under the jurisdiction of 2 different NOCs (Hong Kong and mainland China compete separately).
The Olympic Games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games is titled “Dancing Beijing.”
