BEIJING, Aug 18: Scalpers scrambled to offload tickets for the Olympic 110m hurdles final as soon as Chinese superstar Liu Xiang pulled out of the event on Monday.

Tickets for Thursday’s final had been in sizzling demand on the black market as Liu was China’s great hope for athletics gold at the Games, but he limped out in the heats with a foot injury.

“As soon as I heard the news, I got down to the stadium and I dumped all my tickets at face value,” said one American tout outside the main Olympic district, who said he had tens of tickets for the big night.

“That is just the way it goes sometimes,” said the tout, who did not want to be named.

He said he had been selling the tickets, normally priced at between 400 and 800 yuan ($58 to $116), for at least 1,500 yuan the day before Liu’s exit.

Chinese touts were still selling tickets for all of the days where Liu had been expected to feature, including the final, but prices had dropped after his exit.

A ticket for Thursday was being offered for 3,500 yuan, more than four times its face value, although one tout said it would have cost 6,000 before Liu’s early exit.

Another ticket was on sale with an American online broker for $455.

When contacted, the broker who had travelled for the Games said he would wait to drop the price.“It is just simple supply and demand,” he said.

After becoming the first Chinese male athlete to win an athletics gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004, Liu has towered alongside basketball hero Yao Ming as one of China’s two most loved sporting stars.—AFP