At 8am the parade was lined up and ready to start marching. Each Residential College had a team, as well as the Graduate School, the College of Science, the College of Engineering, the Administrative Staff, and the Campus development staff, forming a total of 11 squads. After each had paraded around the track, they all lined up on the field to watch the opening ceremony performances. These included an elegant traditional Chinese dance, a dynamic hip-hop dance, an passionate poetry recital, and various other shows put on by the students, showing off their vitality and imagination.

After the parade came to an end, everyone lined up to sing the national anthem as the flags of the country and of SUSTech were raised.

President Chen then made an opening statement. On behalf of the university he congratulated the participants for taking part in the competitions, and thanked the judges, the staff and the volunteers who toiled endlessly to make it happen. He said that sports have always held a very important place in first-class universities, and that it was important to develop high quality sports facilities and infrastructure in order to strengthen the athletic character and culture of the students. He went on to say that exercising is a lifestyle choice and a strong competition culture and that regular exercise will broaden one’s mind and develop one’s physical fitness. He concluded by saying that he sincerely hoped students and staff will dedicate time to physical exercise to boost their mental and physical abilities in the process of creating a world-class research university.​

He Junqi stood in as representative for the athletes to take an oath of honest competition, underlining the principle of “friendship first and competition second”. Hou Siyu then declared on behalf of the judges and referees that they were committed to ensure a fair and strict performance of their duties.

After that, Chairperson Guo Yurong declared the games open.

An exciting martial arts performance followed by a enthusiastic hip hop dance followed, thrilling the audience.

The university’s Sports Day is an athletic event which aims to showcase the athletic abilities and competitive spirit of SUSTech. This year’s edition saw 221 students and 423 athletes compete against each other in 11 teams. The 66 individual competitions included various running races, high jump, long jump, basketball shooting, a tug of war, and many others, each one accompanied by cheering and support from the stands.

At the end of the day, the podium was dominated by Shuren Residential College, who took first place among the students, followed by Shuli and Shude. On the staff side, the Campus Development Faculty team took first place, the College of Science team came second and the Administrative Service team came in third.

Throughout the day, each team demonstrated remarkable sportsmanship and unity in their hard work. Other awards were handed out, with Shuren College and Zhicheng College winning the Spiritual Civilization Award, and Shuren and Shuli being handed the Sports Ethics Award, while the Teaching Staff team received the Sportsmanship Award.