World Aquatics extends partnership with NongFu bottled water supplier

The global governing body for aquatics, formerly known as FINA, has announced the extension of its partnership with Chinese bottled water provider NongFu, continuing a collaboration that began in 2019.

This partnership reaffirms NongFu’s position as an official partner for select aquatics competitions.

NongFu will remain a key partner for prestigious events such as the World Aquatics Championships, World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup, World Aquatics Swimming World Cup and the World Aquatics Diving World Cup. Attendees at these events can expect to see NongFu Spring water and the company’s branding prominently displayed, alongside new digital and social media campaigns.

NongFu Spring will also contribute to the development of new programs aimed at promoting swimming and aquatic sports in China.

In other news from the World Aquatics Bureau, a unanimous decision was reached towards the end of last year to establish criteria allowing athletes holding Russian and Belarusian passports to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes in future World Aquatics competitions.

This decision, overseen by the Independent Aquatics Integrity Unit, includes stringent anti-doping measures and requires athletes to refrain from active support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Participating athletes will compete without national flags or anthems, and only in individual events, with strict limits on the number of representatives per country.

In February last year, the World Aquatics organisation opted to relocate the 2025 World Aquatics Championships from Kazan, Russia, to Singapore, citing concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This decision followed the initial award of hosting rights to Kazan in 2019.