DUSHANBE, August 5, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik Olympic competitors, who are currently holding the final team practice session in the Beijing Olympic village, today morning were welcomed by the Olympic village mayor, according to the Tajik National Olympic Committee (NOC).

The source at the NOC said that on August 4, they were received by the Tajik Ambassador to China, Mr. Rashid Olimov.  

An official ceremony of opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will be held on August 8, and along with presidents of other countries President Emomali Rahmon will attend the ceremony.   

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.”