Organisers report brisk sale of tickets

The organisers reported brisk sale of tickets, with Sunday recording 495,000 tickets and 287,000 for Monday. It was announced that police had arrested 40 touts for selling tickets illegally in front of the Olympic Park.

Angelique Kerber of Germany poses for selfies with fans after winning her match against Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.

The organisers reported brisk sale of tickets, with Sunday recording 495,000 tickets and 287,000 for Monday.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, the Rio 2016 ticketing director, Donovan Ferreti, said that the police had arrested 40 touts for selling tickets illegally in front of the Olympic Park.

The Executive Communications Director, Mario Andrada, also revealed that tickets were booked with a third party credit card from Sao Paulo. "The police were quick in getting to them. The tickets would be sent to us to be cancelled," he said.

He also disclosed that one athlete had been detained by the local police on charges of sexual assault at the Olympic village, under the Brazilian law.

Quite relieved that the zika virus was not an issue owing to the winter being colder than normal, Andrada said, ‘’We have not got a single case. However, we cannot leave this to chance. So, athletes have been informed and a lot of precautions have been taken."

Flag trouble

The Chinese delegation had complained about an error in the national flag, and it was mentioned that the company producing the flags had already been ordered for a fresh set of flags.

"The problem was discovered during the weekend. Yesterday, we managed to contact the company producing these flags and they are producing a bunch of flags correctly now. So, the first flags should be delivered here shortly," said Andrada.

It was mentioned that one of the focus of the Games was to help the Brazilian fans to cheer for different sports. ‘’The Brazilians are very passionate, very vocal, very loud and very Latin," said the executive director.

Food shortage

Crucially, it was mentioned that there would be more food available soon. ‘’We made a significant improvement on the food supply. In order to ensure that the supply is enough, we are bringing 20 new food trucks. We are bringing mobile stations for selling water," said Andrada.

Meanwhile, on being questioned about Russian swimmers with a history of doping being allowed to compete, the IOC director of communications, Mark Adams, responded by saying, ‘’There are people who have served sanctions and are now clear. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is the highest court in sport, and they upheld the case against us, as they have previously. It is a shame they weren’t tougher on doping," said Adams.