Commonwealth Games close to a sell-out in golden age of UK athletics

Clyde (Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games) A thistle man named Clyde has been unveiled as the mascot which will celebrate with Sir Chris Hoy on his last hurrah at the Commonwealth Games before calling it a day. Clyde was designed by a 12-year-old

The vast majority of Commonwealth Games tickets that were available to the public have now been sold, Glasgow 2014 organisers say.

Sports fans have snapped up 92 per cent of the available tickets for the summer event, leaving 11 of the 17 disciplines sold out, officials said.

Of the tickets sold, around a fifth have gone to under-16s or people over the age of 60 (22 per cent).

The remaining seats will go on sale tomorrow from 10am on a first-come, first-served basis following an exclusive sale period for those who were not successful in the first round of sales when 2.3 million requests were made for up to one million tickets.

The Glasgow 2014 team has previously spoken of "phenomenal demand" for tickets.

More than 100,000 applications were made for the 100m men's final at Hampden Park, with track cycling, diving and artistic gymnastics among the other sports oversubscribed.

A comprehensive breakdown of the sales, released today, shows that other sports such as swimming, athletics, hockey, judo, netball, shooting, table tennis, triathlon and wrestling are also booked up.

Badminton, boxing, lawn bowls, para-sport powerlifting, rugby sevens, squash and weightlifting do still have some tickets up for grabs and there is limited availability for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Of the tickets sold, three-fifths cost £25 or less.

Initial findings also suggest that 57 per cent of the tickets were sold in Scotland, with 40 per cent going to Home Nations sports fans. The remaining 3 per cent were sold to non-Commonwealth nations.

Tickets for Commonwealth nations come from an additional pot, sold through other Commonwealth Games associations.

Overall, 70 per cent of the Glasgow 2014 tickets were made available to the public and 9 per cent was reserved for the Commonwealth Games associations' athletes and the Commonwealth Games Federation. Other tickets went to sponsors and hospitality clients or were reserved for contingency purposes.

Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg said: "The demand for Glasgow 2014 tickets has been simply incredible and we want to thank everyone for their massive response to our invitation to be part of making Glasgow 2014 a great moment in sporting history.

"Already Glasgow 2014 can show it will deliver great home crowds and an impactful boost to tourism as we welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors to Glasgow in the year Scotland welcomes the world.

"We are really proud of meeting the ambitions of making the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games accessible, affordable and available to as many people as possible."

Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson said: "There is genuine excitement around Glasgow 2014, as today's announcement of the fantastic success of ticket sales clearly demonstrates, and that enthusiasm and anticipation will only continue to build as we close in on the Games."