TICKETS for next year's Commonwealth Games went on sale today after a launch by Manchester United skipper Roy Keane.

The fiery Irish midfielder unveiled the ticket-purchasing procedure for next year's 10-day event at midday.

He was joined by former England manager and Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan, as well as Olympic champions Denise Lewis and Tanni Grey-Thompson.

More than 750,000 tickets for the 17 individual sports have been made available for sport fans.

Badminton will be held at Bolton Arena in Horwich, while Rivington is set to host the cycling event.

Half of the tickets for the Games will be priced at £10 or less.

The cycling event, however, will be one of six free events.

Ticket application forms are available on commonwealthgames2002.org.uk, and from national retail outlets due to be announced later today.

Today's launch, at Manchester Velodrome, was the first phase of the ticket process.

National agency Ticketmaster will handle enquiries from January 6, 2002, and tickets will be available in person from early June 2002.

Niels de Vos, Manchester 2002 commercial director, said: "Our aim is to make tickets available to as wide a cross section of the public as possible, to ensure the event is the affordable games. The Games are nothing without supporters."

More than £160 million of Lottery cash has been pumped into the event, being held from July 25 to August 4, 2002.

The event, it has been estimated, could bring £30 million of investment into Bolton.

Trevor Brooking, chairman of Sport England, said: "The pricing structure reflects a key Sport England objective which is to ensure as many people as possible get access to the Games at affordable prices."