While the action was fast and furious at the Water Cube yesterday, just a mile away at the Olympic Green, the competition was equally hot, as ticket scalpers from home and abroad touted for business.

With a sign around his neck saying "Want Olympic tickets for any game" (written in both English and Chinese), a 20-something man, who said he was a university student from the United States, patrolled the area outside Beitucheng subway station, the transfer point for spectators en route to the Green.

"What do you have?" he asked a Chinese man who approached him.

"How much?" he asked.

"I'll take them."

The "student", who refused to give his name, was clearly happy with the deal; no doubt confident he could sell on his latest acquisitions to an unwary or simply desperate buyer sometime later that day.

China Daily discovered he had earlier bought two tickets for the shooting competition from a Chinese scalper for 500 yuan ($73) apiece. He sold the pair to two Danish tourists for 1,600 yuan.

Over the next hour, he sealed at least five more deals. In most he acted purely as a middleman between Chinese scalpers and Western buyers.

But he was by no means alone. The scalpers were easy to spot as they lurked, waiting for business.

Occasionally they would congregate to discuss favorite hunting grounds or to share information about potential buyers.

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