(Photo/CGTN)

Sporting excellence and physical prowess will be on display at China's 13th National Games in September, so netizens were underwhelmed by the curious appearance of a topiary version of official mascot Jinwa in host city Tianjin on Thursday.

Pictures of the topiary mascot, first released on social media platform Weibo by online news outlet Lanmeihui, have been shared nearly 25,000 times and attracted 40,000 comments – mostly negative.

(Photo/CNS)

“Is he poisoned?” asked @Lanmeijiang_Arico.

“This is the ugliest mascot I’ve ever seen,” @coozealyoo stated, emphasizing it was not one of the ugliest but the ugliest.

“Is he suntanned?” inquired @Buaixiaodechangjinglu.

The prototype of Jinwa was designed by Tianjin Design and Research Center for Visuals and selected by the National Games' review committee after a year of public competition. The concept was inspired by local New Year pictures (Nian Hua).

Lanmeihui cited a netizen as saying that the topiary Jinwa has now been removed.