Record number of nations for World Swimming Championship

A record number of 181 countries have confirmed their participation in the 14th FINA World Championships to be held in Shanghai, China from July 16-31, International Swimming Federation (FINA) has announced.

In the 2009 World Championship held in Rome, 172 countries and 2,438 competitors took part in the event, while in this year's competition, 2,220 competitors would take part.

For the first time, the competition will have qualifying standard times in swimming, FINA said.

During the 16-day competition, 40 finals would be held in swimming (July 24-31), 10 in diving (July 16-24), seven in synchronised swimming (July 17-23), six in open water swimming (July 19-23) and two in water polo (July 17-30).

The venues of the championships are located in the Oriental Sports Centre in Pudong area and comprise an indoor stadium for swimming and synchronised swimming, the Natatorium for water polo and an outdoor pool for diving.

The open water swimming events would be held in the Jinshan City Beach.