Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Nearly 200 swimmers from China arrived in Taiwan Friday to participate in the 12th annual Olympic Hengchun Open Water Swim to be held on April 24.

At the invitation of the Masters Swimming Association of Taiwan, 173 swimmers from the Fuzhou Winter Swimming Association will take part in the 3-kilometer swim that runs along Taiwan’s southern coastline near Kenting.

It will be the third consecutive year the Chinese association takes part in a major swim in Taiwan.

In 2009, 683 members of the Fuzhou association participated in the Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival held in central Taiwan, and last year 211 members swam in the Hengchun event.

The oldest swimmer from China who will take part in this year’s event is 82-year-old Li Shizheng. He will be swimming in Taiwan for the second time after having swam in Sun

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