Tens of thousands of Shenzhen residents spent a sleepless night last night following the city's historic bid to host the 2011 Universiade through TV, the Internet and radio programs.

George E. Killian, president of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), announced the host city of the 26th Summer Universiade in the Italian city of Turin at 6:57 p.m. local time yesterday (1:57 a.m. Beijing time today).

At the Shenzhen Media Group's 1,800-seater live broadcasting studio in Futian District, 600 local university students and 1,200 residents together witnessed the announcement of the host city for the 2011 Universiade.

Shenzhen Satellite TV and Shenzhen Sports Channel broadcast the final announcement live between 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. today. Shenzhen Radio Station and major local Web sites provided updates round the clock.

A spokesman for the city's media group expected the viewership rating, which is available one week after a live broadcast, to reach between four and six points. On normal days, the rating is between one and two points.

"Such a high viewership rating is similar to the live broadcast of midnight countdown on New Year's Eve," he told the Shenzhen Daily.

Sun Libin, vice director of the cultural and sports bureau of Longgang District, said local residents marked the city's success in its Universiade bid with dragon dances and fireworks displays at dawn. The district, where a Universiade City is being planned, has already seen economic growth since the construction was announced in 2004.

Although few companies in Huaqiangbei had promised to allow employees to come in late this morning, white-collar workers said they didn't want to miss watching the historic moment.

A reader surnamed Zhang said witnessing the announcement was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for him. "Although the event was held at midnight due to the time difference, it's the first world-class games bid for Shenzhen," Zhang said. "Beijing will host the 2008 Olympic Games, Shanghai has the World Expo in 2010 and Guangzhou is preparing for the Asian Games to be held the same year," he said.

Lu Daxiang, vice principal of the Guangzhou-based Jinan University, said he was just as excited about the bid as Shenzheners. "We and other universities in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao will also benefit from such a world-class sports event," he said.

Fourteen college heads from Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong vowed to cooperate for the Universiade bid in early December.

Editor: Yan