The IOC said in 2001 Tiananmen Square was "inappropriate"

The Chinese capital had proposed to use the square, where hundreds of student protestors died in an army crackdown in June 1989, when it was bidding in 2000.

But Beijing's Chaoyang Park looks set to be named as an alternative venue.

"We think this site's especially suited for the beach volleyball," Feng Qihua of the organising committee's media department told Reuters news agency.

No reason was given for the decision, although the International Olympic Committee said in its evaluation of Beijing's bid in 2001 that the Tiananmen Square site was "inappropriate".

Beijing has scaled back on some of the ambitious plans it presented in bidding for 2008, cutting the budgets for venues like the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium.

But it still plans to spend �20bn on the Games, including �1bn on venues, �1bn on operating costs, �13bn on infrastructure and �3.8bn on an environmental clean-up.

Beijing equestrian plans in doubt

Organisers have also proposed moving the 2008 equestrian competitions to Hong Kong due to the potential risk of equine diseases in Beijing.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has told Beijing to make sure such a move, opposed by the International Equestrian Federation, is necessary.