The torch relay for Shenzhen 2011 Universiade concluded its journey and torch runners reached a number of 10 million, said organizers in Shenzhen on Thursday.

A total of 160 torchbearers ran the Universiade torch relay here on Thursday, completing the physical relay. While the Internet relay has lighted more than 700 universities around China, making 10 million netizens available for the flame of the World University Games.

Organizers said the Internet torch relay was an innovation that had never happened in the torch relays for big sports events before.

"More people could get access to the torch relay, while our spending would be saved," Said Huang Guoqiang, spokesman of Shenzhen Universiade.

"It is green and fashionable, you can't find a better way, especially for university games," Huang said.

The Internet torch relay, which started its journey from Shenzhen on May 10, has been passed one by one via a social network web site Pengyou.com that runs by local Internet giant Tencent, one of the China's biggest internet companies.

The Shenzhen Universiade will officially raise its curtain on Friday, attracting around 10,000 university students from all over the world.