Updated on Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 00:00 IST

London, July 30: Female hockey players from Britain are to wear red contact lenses to beat the smog in Beijing during next month''s Olympics.

The pollution is likely to be so severe at next month’s Olympic Games that the women’s hockey squad – dubbed the Lionesses – are trialling the bizarre-looking contacts despite the effect they have on the ladies’ looks.

According to a London newspaper, the lenses will help their eyes to focus on the fast-moving hockey ball in the haze and smog.

Players are also helped by the fact that the lenses act like sun glasses, cutting out glare and reducing the amount they frown, which can cause them to tire more quickly and to suffer headaches.

Goalkeeper Beth Storry said she and her team-mates have been training in Macau, near Hong Kong, which has a similar climate to Beijing.

Beijing has not seen blue sky for almost a week.

Private cars have already been banned on alternate days depending on their license plate number, odd or even, and many government cars have been ordered off the roads.

Last week environment bosses in Beijing claimed the air was improving and there had been a 20 per cent cut in levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other matter in the air since the same time last year.

ANI