WUHAN, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Motorboat racing experts believe the sport will grow a lot in the coming years as China is striving to develop its water sports industry.

To a certain extent, the development of motorboat racing in China lags behind. As a non-Olympic sport, motorboat racing in China is subject to high equipment costs and a lack of talent.

"China's F1 motorboat racing started late, and there is still a big gap between the developed countries and our country," a member of F1 Committee of the Union Internationale Motonautique, Li Haojie said.

The fourth stop of the 2018 F1H2O World Championship Grand Prix has recently ended in central China's Xiangyang where host team China Tianrong ranked second. China Tianrong, formed in 2006, had won three consecutive annual championships from 2014 to 2016.

Still there are just a very small number of Chinese athletes participating in this sport and the level of competition is limited.

"Overseas, there are many levels of motorboat league systems, [with] more than 180 competitions being carried out in one year. It has a wide range of participation. China has started by establishing a league at F4 level," Li haojie said.

According to the "Water Sports Industry Development Plan" issued in 2016, the total scale of China's water sports industry will reach 300 billion yuan by 2020. The plan also specifies that the main body of the market should be further strengthened to support a number of water sports clubs with independent brands, innovative abilities and competitive strengths.

By 2020, it is expected that there will be 1000 water sports clubs and 10 national leisure sports centers.

Li Ruilin, a senior official of the Aquatic Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport in China said that the market-oriented operation and industrialization of motorboat sports should focus on two aspects.

The first should be to give priority to the market and continue to support club operations to improve the competitions and improve the competitive level. The second should be to create conditions for enthusiasts to improve the popularity of motorboat racing and participation.

Further popularization and improvement of this sport will help to promote the development of other related aquatic sports and the aquatic sports industry, Li Ruilin said.