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Somebody should have told Tumshie Smillie and her classmates it would be a waste of time queueing up to buy tickets for this year's Credit Suisse First Boston Hong Kong Sevens.

 The King George V School fifth former was among the first to queue up - at 2 pm on Saturday - for the sale of 8,500 adult tickets and 1,000 children's tickets at the Hong Kong Stadium yesterday.

 She needed not have bothered. A disappointing turnout left 4,750 adult tickets and 350 children's tickets unsold.

 It was the first time since 1990 that tickets were not snapped up on the first day of sales to the public.

 This year's Sevens will be staged from March 27 to 29.

 Only about 900 people were in line when the 24 counters at the So Kon Po ticket office opened yesterday at 8.30 am.

 'I'm disappointed and surprised at the crowd. We expected more,' said David Roberts, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union commercial manager.

 Sevens fan David Cross said: 'It was really easy to get a ticket this time. I only turned up at 7 am.'  People who arrived after 9 am did not have to queue.

 Ticket sales were stopped at 12.30 pm as the Hong Kong Stadium prepared to stage a First Division soccer game.

 Tumshie, 16, who bought two tickets, said the atmosphere overnight 'wasn't good'. 'There were not half as many people around this time and it was really dull. It is a bit of a shame, but I don't mind as I have my tickets.'  The regional economic downturn and a general lack of interest from overseas fans had led to a poor public response this year, HKRFU officials said.

 'In the past we noticed that there were a lot of people buying tickets for travel agents and friends overseas,' Mr Roberts said.

 'This time people are just buying tickets for themselves.'  The HKRFU had an extra 1,500 adult tickets available to satisfy an anticipated heavy local demand.

 The extra allocation resulted from reduced overseas demand, especially from Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

 'We had allocated 6,500 tickets for overseas fans but we expect to sell only around 4,500,' Mr Roberts said.

 'Unless there is an upsurge of interest, especially from overseas, we will have tickets on hand this time.'  A HKRFU official added: 'One thing is for sure, touts will be out of business this year.' 



No scrum for Sevens tickets as sales disappoint