International boat racers arrive for Shanghai Sailing Open
About 300 sailboat racers from home and abroad have gathered in the city for the 2025 Shanghai Sailing Open, which will be held on Dishui Lake in Pudong's Lingang Special Area from Friday to Sunday.
Elite athlete representatives, including Chinese one-arm sailor Xu Jingkun, showed up at the event's launch ceremony on the Bund on Tuesday evening.
In its second edition, the Shanghai Sailing Open features a new discipline of ILCA7. Together with the existing two disciplines of J80 and ILCA6, a total of 86 boats will take part in this year's competitions.
Sailboats cruise on the Huangpu River, passing by the Shanghai skyline at night.
According to the organizers, more international teams and international enterprise teams have actively signed up for the J80 competition rather than being invited compared to the first edition last year.
During the launch ceremony, Chinese Olympic champion sailor Xu Lijia, who is also the ambassador of the event, exchanged gifts with South Korea's Sopoong Team.
Xu Lijia and Xu Jingkun will join hands for the first time to form a team and compete in the J80 discipline.
Sailing fans can search for the event's official WeChat mini program "上帆" to register for watching the competitions on Dishui Lake for free.
Olympic champion sailor Xu Lijia (left), ambassador of the event, exchanges gifts with South Korea's Sopoong Team.
