By Jeanette Wang

THINKING of attending the Asian Youth Games' (AYG) opening ceremony? Too late. All 6,000 tickets for the June 29 curtain-raiser at the Singapore Indoor Stadium have been snapped up.

But organisers yesterday revealed that there are still plenty of tickets for other events available and that they are stepping up efforts to encourage sales.

To date, organisers said only 1,600 of the 52,000 tickets available to the public for the June 29-July 7 Games have been sold since they went on sale via Sistic on March 20. That includes some 1,000 tickets for the opening ceremony.

'Generally, ticket sales are not up to our expectations,' admitted AYG project co-director Ng Eng Soon yesterday, on the sidelines of the launch of the Games' torch relay route and commemorative orchid - the Dendrobium AYG Singapore 09 - at the Botanic Gardens.

To push ticket sales, he said, organisers are offering schools season-pass packages at about half the regular price of tickets. Daily ticket prices range from $2 to $8. There are also plans to bundle tickets with merchandise.

Some events are more popular than others. Tickets for football, 3-on-3 basketball and swimming, said Mr Ng, have had good take-up. But selling tickets for sailing or beach volleyball, and the preliminary rounds of competitions, has been a challenge.

AYG steering committee chairman Ng Ser Miang said it is unlikely ticket prices will be adjusted as they were priced 'reasonably'.

One event that organisers hope to involve some 70,000 people in - no tickets required - is the two-day torch relay (June 28-29) that ushers in the Games with an Orchid-inspired route.

Three torches will fan out simultaneously each day and pass through Singapore's five Community Development Councils, Orchard Road and the 45 schools that have adopted a participating country. Each location will have its own celebrations.

Over 1,300 athletes aged 14 to 17 from 45 countries are set to compete across the Games' nine sports.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.