Troops given 10,000 London Olympics Games tickets

Servicemen and women will be given 10,000 tickets for the 2012 London Olympics, organisers have said.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said troops would be able to use the tickets to take their families to events.

The donation to the charity Tickets for Troops is a part of the Ticketshare programme from London 2012 organisers.

Samantha Cameron, a Tickets for Troops patron, said the "heroic troops will be able to cheer on our sporting heroes".

Ticketshare, which was launched last month, distributes tickets to worthy causes and charities.

The prime minister's wife said: "I am thrilled that 10,000 troops and their families will be able to enjoy this important national event."

London Organising Committee chairman Sebastian Coe said: "The Games are rightly a source of great national pride, as are those who serve in the forces, and I look forward to seeing some of them at the Games in the summer of 2012."

Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said: "As a former serviceman myself, I know that our troops and their families will really appreciate this opportunity to enjoy the sporting spectacle of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games first hand."

Servicemen and women who are currently serving, or who have been medically discharged since the Afghanistan war began in 2001, can apply through the Tickets for Troops charity.