VANOC chairman Jack Poole, left, said Olympics tickets go on sale on Oct. 3. (Sam Leung/Canadian Press)

Tickets for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games will go on sale earlier than expected.

Organizers confirmed Wednesday that the first phase of tickets will be available Oct. 3 - eight days ahead of schedule.

Tickets will be sold by lottery, so the extra eight days give the public more time to send in request forms before the first phase of sales ends in November.

"It is coming together a bit earlier than we thought," said Dave Cobb, VANOC's vice-president of revenue, marketing and communications.

VANOC chairman Jack Poole told reporters following Wednesday's board meeting that the top priorities remain a balanced budget and keeping all preparations on schedule.

"We're entering into an exciting time," he said. "Because we're next, it is an important time for VANOC to maintain rigorous attention to the business plan."

That said, plans to reveal the Olympic torch relay route will likely be pushed back from the fall to early 2009.

"We're fairly well advanced in our planning," VANOC chief executive officer John Furlong said. "But we have to pick the right time for the program itself and as we look towards the end of the year and into the early part of next year, the volume of activity and announcements are extraordinary.

"We're looking at our overall program and trying to plot where the key events belong that are going to benefit us the most."

With files from the Canadian Press