Guangzhou, July 30 - Over 900,000 people had applied for volunteers for the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games and Asian Para Games by midnight July 29, said Wang Huanqing, Director of the Volunteers Department of the Guangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (GAGOC).

Mr Wang told the media at a press conference on Friday (July 30) that the recruitment of Games-time Volunteers would end at 12:00am August 1 while the recruitment of City Volunteers will go on till September 30.

The Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games and Asian Para Games need a total of approximately 590,000 volunteers, including 85,000 Games-time Volunteers (60,000 for the Asian Games and 25,000 for the Asian Para Games) and about 500,000 City Volunteers.

Among all the applicants, 86.2 per cent are residents of Guangzhou and nearly 70 per cent are students and staff of higher education institutions.

Selected applicants will be officially registered as volunteers for the Games before the end of October.

Guangzhou will celebrate the 100-day countdown to the 16th Asian Games on August 4, Wednesday.

(Wang Lei) (The End)