The final phase of Olympic tickets in China will go on sale May 5, a test of the organizing committee's operational efficiency after an October attempt to launch real-time online sales failed.

With little over 100 days left until the Games, organizers have no choice but to once again attempt a first-come, first-served basis, said Zhu Yan, director of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games' ticketing center.

'We don't have enough time for a lottery draw,' said Mr. Zhu, who attained his post after his predecessor was fired over the botched October sales, when overwhelming demand crashed the system within minutes.

Despite recent controversy over China's human-rights record -- including its March crackdown in Tibet and protests over the Olympics torch relay -- demand to watch the Olympics is expected to be stronger than previous Games, in part fueled by domestic enthusiasm over China's first Olympic outing as host country.

Some 75% of the 6.8 million tickets available for the Beijing Games are reserved for domestic sales, which has resulted in complaints from other parts of the world that there aren't enough tickets for foreigners. In fact, the Australian Olympic contingent says some athletes can't even secure tickets for their parents.

This time, the Beijing Olympic committee will sell 1.38 million tickets, a challenge for China's still nascent ticketing technology, where purchases are frequently conducted after standing in line or via courier, and counterfeiting is rampant.

The committee said Olympic tickets will have anticounterfeiting measures such as microfiche-text processing and radio-frequency identification tags.

The ticketing platform was developed by Gehua Ticketmaster, a joint venture between Ticketmaster, a unit of New York-based IAC/InterActiveCorp, and its Chinese partners Beijing CSI Ticketing Development Co. and Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group.

Separately, the Olympics torch relay, which has turned what organizers meant to be a light-hearted festive procession into heavily policed events around the world, also has spawned a wave of mostly anti-Western protests across Chinese cities.

In Jakarta Tuesday, organizers scrapped plans for the torch to be paraded through the city, and instead restricted it to a few laps around a stadium, under heavy security. Protests and heavy security also are expected in Australia's capital city, Canberra, where the torch relay continues Thursday.

Organizers also have canceled media access to cover the departure of the torch from Mount Everest's base camp Saturday. Tibetan activists are agitating to have the torch relay skip Tibet, where recent riots have led to the deaths of both Han Chinese and Tibetans. Chinese authorities, on guard against any appearance of making concessions to Tibetans, have vowed not to alter the relay route. Both Everest and Tibet remain closed to tourists.

中国将于5月5日进行境内奥运门票最后一个阶段的销售，这是在去年10月份的网上实时销售失败后对北京奥组委运行效率的又一次考验。

北京奥组委票务中心主任朱炎表示，距离奥运会开幕还剩下100余天，我们别无选择，只能再次采取先到先得的做法。朱炎称，我们没有足够的时间进行抽签了。

去年10月份进行网上售票时，潮水般涌入的购票需求导致票务系统瘫痪。当时的票务中心主任被解职，由朱炎接替了他的职位。

尽管最近中国人权问题引发的争议颇多，其中包括3月份平息西藏的骚乱和奥运会火炬传递活动中出现的示威，但观看比赛的需求预计会比以往的奥运会更强，原因之一在于国内对中国首次主办奥运会的巨大热情。

揭晓北京奥运会门票票样在北京奥运会的680万张门票中，约有四分之三是在国内销售，这导致了全球其他地区对外国人门票不足的抱怨。实际上，澳大利亚奥运代表团就表示，一些运动员甚至无法为他们的父母买到票。

北京奥组委此次将销售138万张票，这对中国处于发展初期的售票技术无疑是个挑战。在中国购票常常要排长队或是通过代理，假票也非常猖獗。

奥组委表示，奥运门票采用了大量的防伪技术，如胶印微缩文字技术和无线射频识别等。

票务平台由歌华特玛捷(Gehua Ticketmaster)开发。这家公司是美国纽约IAC/InterActiveCorp旗下的Ticketmaster与北京中体票务发展有限公司(Beijing CSI Ticketing Development Co.)和北京歌华文化发展集团(Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group)共同成立的合资企业。

此外，全球的奥运会火炬接力活动从组织者设想的气氛轻松的庆典演变成了戒备森严的活动。这也在中国城市中引发了一波波反对西方的浪潮。

周二在雅加达，组织者取消了原定穿越全城的火炬传递计划，改为在大量警力的保护下在体育场中跑了几圈。预计周四在澳大利亚首都堪培拉进行传递时还会出现抗议和警察严密防范的情况。

组织者还取消了媒体对火炬周六离开珠穆朗玛峰大本营的采访。支持西藏独立的人士试图阻挠火炬接力经过西藏。而中国政府坚决表示不会改变火炬传递路线。最近在西藏爆发了骚乱，导致包括汉族和藏族人在内的多人丧生。珠穆朗玛峰和西藏仍未向游客开放。