About 1,000 people tested their goldfish scooping skills at an event in Nara Prefecture, western Japan.

The contest was held on Sunday for the first time in three years in the city of Yamatokoriyama, a major goldfish raising area. The annual event was canceled for the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Participants equipped with fragile paper scoops each competed to capture as many goldfish as possible in three minutes from a water tank containing about 1,000.

A woman in her 50s scooped up 17 fish to advance to the semifinals. She said she had participated every year before the pandemic. She said she is glad to see friends from throughout the country, whom she met at previous contests.