Beijing Olympic flame arrives in Omani capital Muscat
14/4/2008 17:31
The sacred flame of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games early today arrived in
the Omani capital of Muscat, the ninth leg of a global torch relay.
A
chartered plane carrying the flame landed on Muscat international airport at
local time 5:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Liu Jingmin,
executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008
Olympic Games (BOCOG), carried the lantern of the flame and walked off the
plane.
Upon arrival at the airport, Liu and the flame received a warm welcome
by senior Omani officials including Omani Minister of Sports Affairs and
Chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy and Habib
Macki, vice chairman of the OOC.
Chinese ambassador to Oman Pan Weifang also
came to the airport to welcome the flame of the Beijing Olympics, which is
scheduled to be held this August.
At a press conference on Saturday, Macki
said his country is ready for the upcoming Beijing Olympic torch relay in Muscat
today.
Macki briefed the preparation works for the torch relay in Muscat,
saying it's a great honor for Oman to hold this event and all sides concerned
have been exerting efforts to render the torch relay a success.
He stressed
that the organizers have taken tight measures to secure the process of the torch
relay, voicing his confidence that the event in Muscat will be
successful.
According to the plan, the torch relay here will kick off at
local time 5:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) today, with a route of some 20 km stretched from
Al Bustan roundabout in the southeastern part of the coast city to Al Qurm
Natural Park in central Muscat.
The sacred flame is expected to leave for
Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 15.
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