Paralympics-More than 2 million tickets sold for Paris 2024 - organisers

By Julien Pretot

PARIS (Reuters) - Paris 2024 has sold just over two million tickets for the Paralympic Games, organisers said hours before the opening ceremony on Wednesday, adding they were confident it would be a sold-out extravaganza.

"Over two million tickets have already been sold for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, including one million in just one month," Paris 2024 said in a statement.

Organisers said on Tuesday that some 500,000 tickets were still up for grabs, which, if they are sold, would put Paris just short of the record 2.7 million sold for the London 2012 Games, where 97% tickets were purchased.

At the Beijing 2008 Games, 1.82 million tickets were sold and organisers distributed 1.62 million to schools, according to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) figures.

Some 2.1 million tickets were sold for the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

Paris 2024, however, is confident the Paralympics will be sold out, which would be a first.

"We know we will continue to sell tickets over the next days, probably until the end of the Games," Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet said.

"It was the case at the Olympics, we sold tickets until the very last day, even the last hour, and that’s been very exciting for us to see that fans were excited until the end and really wanted to take the last opportunities."

"Today, the number of tickets sold will certainly surpass the Rio numbers," IPC spokesperson Craig Spence said.

More than a month after the opening ceremony of the Olympics on the Seine, the Paralympic Games' opening event will also take place outside a stadium, this time on the Champs-Elysees and Place de la Concorde, later on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)