(BEIJING, February 17) -- In an inspection tour of the Olympic Village and the basketball venue for the 2008 Olympic Games on Saturday, BOCOG President Liu Qi urged the staff to offer "the first class operations in the first class venues". Praising the "high level" construction of the Olympic Village, Liu stressed the quality of the facility and hoped that it would become a venue of super standard which embodies the Chinese characteristics. Liu is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee. The Olympic Village is aimed to be a "green project" using recycled water and solar energy to save resources and reduce gas emissions. It also features accessibility and traditional Chinese cultural flavor. Some articles will be decorated with Chinese pictographic characters. "We need to take the Olympics as an opportunity to promote basketball and other sports in China, and need to build the first class venues and best operation teams to ensure the success of the 2008 Olympic Games," he told the constructors of the basketball venue at Wukesong Indoor Stadium, one of the 31 Olympic venues in Beijing. A highlight of the project is its post-Games use: it can be converted into a skating ground. In April it will host the 2008 Women's Basketball International Invitational Tournament, with the teams from six countries registered already. Joining Liu in the visit were Chen Zhili, state councilor and BOCOG first vice-president; Guo Jinlong, vice-secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Beijing mayor and BOCOG executive president; Du Deyin, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress and deputy mayor of the Olympic (Paralympic) Village; and Wang Anshun, vice-secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee.
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