HK galvanized with sports fever after 3rd medal win at Olympics

Hong Kong residents are experiencing "an unprecedented sense of engagement in the Olympic Games", sports fans told China Daily on Friday after witnessing the city's swimming star, Siobhan Haughey, claim silver in the women's 100-meter freestyle with a new Asian record.

It was the second silver medal that the 23-year-old secured in Tokyo. On Wednesday, she had set an Asian record in the 200-meter freestyle final.

Hong Kong has bagged three medals at the Tokyo Olympics so far, with foil fencing gold medalist Edgar Cheung Ka-long winning the gold in the men's individual foil on Monday.

On Friday morning, many residents gathered in front of the giant screens at different shopping malls across Hong Kong to root for the city's athletes.

Among them was a 40-year-old nurse surnamed Chiu who watched Haughey's competition in the Olympian City, a shopping mall in West Kowloon that was named to commemorate the city's first gold in 1996.

Chiu said it's surprising that Haughey in the 100-meter final broke the Asian record which she set in the semi-final on Thursday. She said she hopes Haughey could show her best performance in the upcoming 50-meter freestyle heat, which is scheduled for6:45 pm Hong Kong time Friday.

A 13-year-old swimming enthusiast told China Daily he was impressed by Haughey's record in the 100-meter final, adding he saw a huge gap between him and professional athletes. He said this encourages him to make a greater effort in swimming training.

A resident surnamed Wong and her 5-year-old son got up early and arrived at the Olympian City to cheer Haughey on.

Wong said that her son demanded to learn fencing after he saw Cheung's win on Monday, but all the fencing training camps she contacted have been fully booked.

She believed that a large number of young people will be inspired by victories of Cheung and Haughey and will have more interests in sports as a result.

Chloe Xu contributed to the story