Rio De Janeiro: Rio 2016 organisers on Thursday launched an official resale program for Brazilian residents with unwanted Olympic tickets.

The online service is designed to combat black market sales and will offer fans access to events that had previously sold out, according to Rio2016.com.

The program will allow sellers a full refund via the same format through which they paid, Xinhua news agency reported.

Only tickets bought on the official Rio 2016 tickets page - which is only open to residents of Brazil - are eligible for the resale program

Non-residents of Brazil can buy and enquire about reselling tickets through authorized resellers in their country.