Yesterday, the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race China’s Guangzhou stopover organized by the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality in Nansha District, the Guangzhou Sports Bureau and the Nansha Marina has celebrated the kick off meeting at the Nansha Marina. Wang Dong, Deputy Mayor of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, Mr. Timothy Tsun-Ting Fok, Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee and Chairman of Fok Ying Tung Group, and Antonio, Managing Director of the Volvo Ocean Race, and other important guests have attended the opening ceremony.

Wang Dong delivered a welcoming speech on behalf of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality. He first congratulated the successful opening of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race China’s Guangzhou stopover in Nansha, Guangzhou. At the same time, he expressed that Guangzhou will continue to explore the development, popularization and promotion of Water sailing sports projects, to start more water sports brand events, to guide the rapid development of the water sports industry, and let more enthusiasts and amateurs participate in it, in order to make sailing sport a beautiful business card in Guangzhou.

According to our information, the Volvo Ocean Race is well known as one of the world’s three largest sailing events, together with the America’s Cup and the Olympic Sailing Regatta. It is the most difficult offshore water sport event in the world for this reason it is called the "Mt. Everest in the nautical world." It has a history of 45 years dated from 1973. The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race has started from Alicante, Spain on the October 22 last year, and will take the end in The Hague, Netherlands in June this year. The race covers 45,000 nautical miles around the world. It is considered as the longest distance in its history. It steps across four oceans, passes through six continents and twelve landmark cities, and will also pass through the coldest and most complex situation sea areas. Therefore, it is also the most difficult event in its history.

This stopover in Guangzhou is also the first time the event has stopped in a first tier city in Mainland China, which will mark a great significance to the promotion and popularization of water sailing sport in Guangzhou. This event not only provides a competitive platform for the world's top sailing athletes, but also serves as a bridge of friendship connecting Guangzhou and other ocean cities.

Event highlights: "Jing vs Gang Rivalry" invites you to guess who will win

The world’s top classed sailing event landed in Guangzhou for the first time, the general public can take advantage of the new Guangzhou Metro line reaching to Nansha, and travel environmentally this weekend to the Nansha district. There, the Volvo Ocean Race China’s Guangzhou stopover has numerous exciting activities. Among them, the magic couple Mrs. Jingjing Guo and Mr. Kenneth Fok will lead separately teams to carry out " "Jing vs Gang Rivalry", it will become a remarkable part in the whole event.

In fact, in addition to the "Jing vs Gang Rivalry", there are many highlights in this Volvo Ocean Race in Guangzhou. Everyone can go to the spherical theater to learn more about the sea life of the sailing crews on the large screen, and you can visit and experience the physical model of the sailing boat in the marine environmental protection pavilion. You can not only participate in the game of remote control sailing, but you can also buy tickets to board a real sailing boat and get real sailing experience of forty-five minutes of rough seas. In addition, the Nansha Marina also has a Lingnan Cultural Experience Zone, where there are traditional handicrafts such as Spring Festival Couplets writing, Sugar figure blowing, dough figurines, and straw weaving. The public can also enjoy the Chinese cultural and creative arts at the Stone Village Street Market. The daily cultural performances also include the traditional costumes and rites of the ethine Han, the Kirin and Dragon Dance Team, the traditional Chinese cock olive promotion performances, and music band performances.

Dialogue: "Encourage more young people to participate in sailing sports"

Mr. Timothy Fok, Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee and Chairman of the Fok Ying Tung Group, who has participated in the opening ceremony, was interviewed by the media after the opening ceremony.

Reporter: What is the significance of the Volvo Ocean Race to the development of sailing sports in Guangzhou?

Mr. Timothy  Fok: This is a historical moment that greatly promotes the cultural development of a city. As an important node of the Maritime Silk Road, Guangzhou has more than 2,000 years of maritime culture history. But the development of modern sailing in China has just started. There is still a gap comparing to the occidental history over one hundred years. But in terms of the cultural construction, it is very important for a city to help to improve people’s quality of life through sports. Therefore, this event is not only an international cultural exchange, but also should be able to influence the younger generation and help them to get to know the sailing sport. I also hope that the Chinese team will achieve good results in the races and encourage more young people to participate in sailing.