Yesterday,
PC
Company
Lenovo,
Worldwide
Partner
of
the
Olympic
Torch
Relay
and
TOP
Sponsor
of
the
Beijing
Olympic
Games
2008,
launched
its
second
phase
of
three
online
auctions
in
India
as
part
of
a
global
online
philanthropic
countdown
to
the
Olympic
Games.
Just
as
the
Beijing
2008
Olympic
Torch
Relay
travels
around
the
world,
a
new
Lenovo
auction
is
beginning
each
week
in
a
different
country,
as
a
countdown
down
to
the
Olympic
Games.
The
auction
features
limited-edition,
notebook
PCs
inspired
by
the
Lenovo-designed
Beijing
2008
Olympic
Torch,
and
signed
by
Saif
Ali
Khan,
the
Bollywood
star.
Starting
from
May
14,
over
the
next
ten
days,
a
'Cloud
of
Promise'-themed
notebook
PC
will
be
available
for
bidding
at
www.lenovohopefundauctions.com.
The
limited-edition
notebook
PC
offers
the
Olympic
fans
the
opportunity
to
bid
and
own
a
part
of
Olympic
history,
with
a
personal
touch
by
Saif
Ali
Khan.
The
auction
site
will
be
closed
at
midnight
of
Friday,
May
23rd,
2008.
The
third
and
final
phase
of
auction
in
India
will
begin
on
July
29th,
2008.
Saif
Ali
Khan
was
one
of
the
six
Lenovo
torchbearers
who
ran
with
the
Lenovo-designed
torch
'Cloud
of
Promise'
in
the
New
Delhi
leg
of
the
Olympic
Torch
Relay
on
April
17th.
The
other
five
comprised
Leander
Paes
(Tennis
professional)
Amar
Babu
(Managing
Director,
Lenovo
India),
S
Ramadorai,
Jaishankar
K
and
Dr.
Vaibhav
Bagaria,
the
Open
Nomination
winner
from
Nagpur.
The
first
phase
of
the
auction,
held
in
February,
saw
very
encouraging
response
from
Indians,
with
over
a
dozen
bids
and
over
thousand
page
views
in
India
alone.
The
first
notebook,
Lenovo
3000
V200,
was
auctioned
for
$
825.99
Hundred
percent
of
the
proceeds
from
the
auction
will
be
distributed
through
the
Lenovo
Hope
Fund
to
select
philanthropies,
including
Right
to
Play.
In
the
spirit
of
Lenovo's
sponsorship
of
the
Olympic
Games,
the
proceeds
will
be
utilized
to
concentrate
on
microfinance,
small-
and
medium-enterprise
development
and
bringing
sports
to
communities
of
children.