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Ticket sales for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing were temporarily suspended Tuesday for a week after the ticketing system crashed due to heavy demand by Chinese sports fans.

The Web site received 8 million hits in the first hour it was open and the ticketing telephone line had 3. 8 million calls, according to the Olympic organizing committee. Organizers said they had not anticipated the demand and will announce plans for sales on November 5. Only 9,000 tickets out of the 1.85 million that went on sale were sold.

"We sincerely apologize to the general public,'' Beijing officials said. ``Because of the overwhelming volume of page visits, the technical system was unable to perform the tasks well enough, and many applicants were unable to successfully submit their applications.''

A lottery in June for the first round of 1.6 million tickets went well. China plans to sell seven million tickets for the games over three phases with three-quarters of the tickets going to local residents.

"Tuesday morning's turnout for the ticket sale fully reflected the Chinese people's longing and support for the Olympic Games," China's Olympic organizers said.