HONG KONG, Sept. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After three days of qualifying, preliminary and final rounds, 2023 China Mermaid Open Championship Atlantis Station and International Mermaid Performance Contest came to a successful end on the afternoon of 20 September 2023. The champions and first and second runners-up were announced for women's singles, men's singles, mixed team and performance team, and so were the winner of the Best Costume Award and the Best Rookie Award in each group. The event was organized by the Water Sports Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the Chinese Water Skiing, Diving and Motorboat Sports Federation, the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, the People's Government of Sanya City, and Fosun Tourism Group, hosted by the Sanya Tourism Board and Atlantis Sanya, and supported by the Sanya Municipal Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports. In the 11-meter-deep Ambassador Lagoon of Atlantis Sanya, 36 individual contestants and six competing teams battled it out at the spectacular event, which featured past champions who brought the competition to a whole new level.

After the preliminaries on the 19th and the finals on the 20th, the final rankings of each group were released. Chen Yeyun from Guangdong clinched the championship of women's singles, while Ma Zhaowan from Hubei and Zhang Xiaofeng from Gansu secured the positions of the second and third runners-up.

The men's singles championship went to Lei Yingtao from Guangdong while the positions of the second and third runners-up went to Xiang Lei from Hubei and Zhao Xin from Shanxi respectively.

In the mixed team competition, the Shenzhen Nanhai Mermaid Team was honored as the team champion for their superb diving skills and outstanding performance, while the Atlantis Sanya Team won the second runner-up for their excellent teamwork and creative choreography, followed by the Hubei Maoyuanwai Team.

In the performance team event, Zhang Yixian won the champion title for his outstanding performance, followed by Andy Vargas and Hong Xuehua.

Yang Yue Wensha won the Best Costume Award.

Winners of the Best Rookie Award are as follows: Qi Yan in the women's singles, Yang Bowen in the men's singles, Atlantis Sanya in the mixed team and Andrea Schneider in the performance group.

The success of 2023 China Mermaid Open Championship Atlantis Station and International Mermaid Performance Contest has shown that mermaiding is gaining prominence in the global sports arena. Liu Qing, Minister of Department III of the Water Sports Administrative Center of General Administration of Sports of China, said at the closing ceremony that in the finals of the Open Championship last year, she had expressed her wish to invite merfolk from all over the world to participate in the event, and now her wish had come true, which was really a memorable moment for the mermaiding industry. Ms. Liu said that China's mermaid competition event, which was first held three years ago, had humble beginnings but had developed into an eye-opening sporting spectacle and national event greatly loved by diving enthusiasts. She added that this could not have been achieved without the efforts of every contestant.

At the closing ceremony, Michelle Xu, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications of Atlantis Sanya conveyed the company's gratitude to the Water Sports Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport of China for its great efforts to promote the mermaid competition in recent years. Thanks to their support, mermaiding, a niche diving sport, has been attracting a wider audience. Atlantis Sanya's mermaid show is hailed as one of the most popular performances in the Lost Chambers Aquarium. This year, Atlantis Sanya has for the first time formed a professional team for the contest. The team has been practicing and training vigorously, helping to bring the performance of its resident mermaids to the next level. In recent years, Atlantis Sanya has invested in the creation of intellectual property of "boutique" sports tourism events, seeking to help further the integration of the industries of sports and tourism in Hainan Free Trade Port through sporting events. In the future, Atlantis Sanya will keep exploring opportunities for collaboration on holding various types of sporting events and providing diverse sports products and services to improve the visitor experience. This can contribute to the upgrading of Hainan's sports and tourism industry.