KARACHI, April 15: Wednesday April 16, 2008 will go into the annals of Pakistan sports as a historic day. On this day, the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay takes place at the Chinese-built Pakistan Sports Complex amid tight security.

Pakistan was chosen as one of the destinations for the global relay of the torch which travels across the five continents during a 130-day journey before its return to Beijing on Aug 6, just two days ahead of the Games’ opening ceremony.

The government has taken stringent security measures for the torch which arrives from Muscat early Wednesday in its first leg of the Asian tour. From Islamabad, the torch will travel to New Delhi.

It will be the first-ever occasion that the Olympic torch relay is being held in the country since Pakistan was admitted to International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1948.

Beijing becomes the third Asian city after Tokyo (1964) and Seoul (1988) to stage the Olympic Games.

July 13, 2001 turned out to be a ‘red letter day’ not only for the people of China but for entire Asia when Beijing was voted to host 2008 Summer Olympics at the 112th IOC session in Moscow. The Chinese capital edged out strong contenders such as Toronto, Istanbul, Paris and Osaka to win the prestigious honour.

The first round of voting ended as follows — Beijing (44), Toronto (20), Istanbul (17), Paris (15) and Osaka (6). Being last on the list, Osaka was then eliminated for the second round.

In the second round, Beijing mustered (56), Toronto (22), Paris (18) and Istanbul (9) votes.The European bloc made a lot of hue and cry on the awarding of Olympic Games to Beijing on grounds of human rights violations in the China. But the Chinese eventually convinced the then IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch to award the Games to the Asian giant.

Pakistan and China enjoy a long-lasting friendship. The government and the people of Pakistan have been looking forward to a ‘successful games’ despite reports of pro-Tibetan protests.

Ancient Olympia was a religious site long before the first recorded games of 776BC. Excavations reveal that the sanctuary’s age dates back to before 1300 BC. In those days, a spring of pure water flowed from the foot of the hill of Kronus which rises above the site. There, the oldest sanctuary was probably an altar to the great mother goddess, Rhea.

As history tells it, the first torch run involved a race of young boys to light her sacred flame. Gradually, Zeus replaced other goddesses and gods as the most important deity of Olympia.

Beijing’s will be the XXIX Olympic Games and are widely tipped to be the best ever held anywhere in the world.