As a test event for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Qingdao International Regatta is set to find problems and solutions to ensure the Olympic regatta a success.

On Thursday, officials of Qingdao government, Qingdao Sailing Committee (SSCQD) and relevant Chinese departments told a press conference they had found problems in the test run.

Yang Jiaping, deputy head of Qingdao Police Department, said that some shuttle bus drivers left their work to drink alcohol on Tuesday and were caught in a fight. One driver has been arrested for stabbing a person.

"A foreign sailor's lost mobile phone was found in a cleaning staff. Though the staff member said that he picked it up by chance but anyhow he was fired," Yang said.

"This morning, a Chinese referee, who attempted to drive into the Qingdao International Sailing Center without a special permit, was found drunk," Yang continued.

"We are still handling these things and the result will come out in a few days."

Xia Geng, Qingdao mayor and president of SSCQD stressed that the fact that staff members were involved in these scandals was intolerable. "We need to make ourselves more professional," he said.

Ma Ze, secretary-general of Qingdao government, suggested that rubbish littered on the land and floating on the sea should be cleaned in time, which was echoed by Zang Aimin, vice mayor of Qingdao.

"We are not afraid of talking about problems, one objective of the test event is to find problems and solutions," said Zang.

Since Aug. 21, SSCQD has found 119 problems and over 80 percent of them have been solved, according to Zang.

"We still have many problems, for instance, we haven't prepared enough western food for foreign sailors and most taxi drivers don't speak English. All these will be solved," she said.

Source: Xinhua