For the price of a single serving of beef noodles, sports fans can catch a live viewing of an Olympic-standard competition in the capital this year.

Tickets to any of the 23 test events that make up the "Good Luck Beijing" season cost as little as 10 yuan ($1.29).

Not all of the events will replicate the standard expected during next year's Games, but all will give a taste of things to come.

Most will be held in Beijing, with the bulk scheduled for August and September to closely approximate the weather conditions of next summer's big event.

Preliminaries and qualifiers are priced at between 10 and 30 yuan. Finals are in the 30-150 yuan bracket.

Tickets for 10 of the events, including rowing, hockey, beach volleyball, baseball and wrestling, went on sale Tuesday. They will take next place next month during students' summer vacation.

The most expensive currently available are for the finals of the 2007 FIVB Beach Volleyball Women's Challenger (80 yuan), set for August 13-19 at Chaoyang Park's beach volleyball ground.

Students can enjoy a 50 percent discount if they show a valid form of ID.

There are three ways to buy:

Via the official website: www.goodluckbeijing.com.cn;

By calling one of the following hotlines: (8610) 64068888 / 64069999 / 64170058 / 64170068;

By heading to the box office at any of the respective venues three days before the competition starts

Tickets not obtained in one of these ways are likely to be counterfeit or illegal.