Shanghai Sailing Open furls after successful three days

The inaugural Shanghai Sailing Open concluded at Dishui Lake in Pudong's Lingang area on Sunday.

Chen Jiaming from Guangdong Province was the champion of the ILCA6 Open. She was followed by Santiago Villax Sampaio from Portugal, and Shanghai sailor Shang Zitong.

Shanghai Qilang sailing team overcame Olympic gold medalist Xu Lijia's team to take the crown of the J80 race.

The three-day event attracted 35 ILCA6 boats and 25 J80 boats. The 300 racers include professionals and amateurs, locals and foreigners.

Despite her Olympic glory, Shanghai sailboat racer Xu Lijia was a new hand in the J80 competition.

Xu made a great contribution in the promotion of sailing in China when she won a bronze medal in the women's Laser Radial class at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She then pocketed a gold medal in the same event at the 2012 London Games.

"The one-design class is my strong suit," Xu told Shanghai Daily.

"As for the big-boat multimember competition, I'm also a learner. Sailing is a popular sport in many foreign countries. China has developed its Olympic-level sailing events over the years, but there are still some 90 percent of sailing fields for domestic sailors to explore.

"The one-design class has become difficult for me given the injuries I picked up during the professional career. But I'm good enough to become a helmsman in the J80 competition. I want to lead my team and other sailing fans to explore and fill the blank in the big-boat category."