Rogge Hails Paralympics Opening Ceremony; LOCOG Under Fire Over Empty Seats

(ATR) IOC president Jacques Rogge tells Around the Ringsthe Paralympics opening ceremony was "a great one", as LOCOG comes in for criticism of empty seats on the first day of competition.

The ceremony was watched in the U.K. by a record peak audience of 11.2 million on Channel 4, the official broadcaster of the Paralympic Games.

Rogge spoke to ATR on Thursdayat the VISA Paralympic Hall of Fame, where International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven inducted new members Louise Sauvage, Roberto Marson, Trischa Zorn-Hudson, Frank Porta and Chris Holmes.

"It was a great one. I really enjoyed it, it was good," Rogge said. He then headed to the Olympic Park to attend a selection of events; he will return home Friday.

Wednesday's opening ceremony had been sold out, but early indications Thursday are that the empty seats issue, which was a headache for Olympics chiefs in the first week of those Games, may be repeated at the Paralympics.

Despite nearly selling out the 2.5 million tickets available for the Paralympics, hundreds of seats were reportedly vacant in the aquatics center for the opening session of the swimming competitions and at Greenwich Park for equestrian dressage.

Asked about the empty seats, Craven told ATR he was happy with preparations put in place by LOCOG.

"LOCOG have done a great job in selling the seats," he said. "When it comes down to it, I’m not going to be looking at the empty seats, I’m going to be looking at the packed ones.

"I think we’re going to see a fantastic Games."

LOCOG's Paralympic integration manager Chris Holmes echoed Craven’s comments. He told ATR that any empty seats on show over the 11 days of competition would just be people moving from one sport to another.

The day pass ticket appears to be the source of the problem.

"People need to understand that at times they may see empty seats in stadia, particularly in day pass venues where people are moving between sports," Holmes said.

"It doesn’t mean tickets haven’t been sold, doesn’t mean that seat won’t be filled as people move through, but we wanted to make sure that people could have a day experience at the Paralympic Games and maybe check out three or four sports."

Holmes declined to comment on the late decision of the teams from Malawi and Botswana to pull out of the Games.

He would only say: "We have the largest number of National Paralympic Committees of any previous Games, more athletes than any previous Games – I think it’s going to be sensational sport.

"I think everyone should connect, get involved and just enjoy and get excited by extraordinary sport."

On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Malawi and Botswana had withdrawn from the Games with a London 2012 spokesperson citing "financial reasons" for their decisions.

The first gold medal of the Paralympics went to China's Zhang Cuiping, who set a new world record Thursday in the women's R2 10 meters air rifle standing SH1 at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Reported by Christian Radnedge

Homepage photo from Getty Images

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