Melbourne, Dec 12 (IANS): The International Swimming Federation (FINA) on Monday announced its new brand "World Aquatics" ahead of the World Swimming Championships (25m) 2022.

The adoption of the World Aquatics name was confirmed by a vote of member federations at an Extraordinary Congress held here earlier in the day.

"We need a name that reflects the whole FINA family. A name that can be used with pride by our divers, high divers, artistic swimmers, open water swimmers and our water polo athletes," said World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam while attending the congress.

"I will always tell you that our athletes must come first, so I would never make a big decision like this without consulting our athletes. Their response has been very clear. More than seventy percent of the athletes that we have spoken with have said that they would like us to change FINA's name," he added.

Since its inception in 1908, the International Swimming Federation has been adopting FINA, a French acronym for Federation Internationale de Natation, reports Xinhua.

According to a statement released by the swimming governing body, the new World Aquatics visual identity will be rolled out at the first events of 2023. In the interim, the federation's portfolio of digital assets has been refreshed, including social media.

A new website will be launched in conjunction with the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka next summer (July 14-30, 2023), the first World Championships fully integrating the new brand identity.

The World Swimming Championships (25m) 2022 is scheduled to be held at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre from Dec. 13-18, 2022.