Crowd support cheers athletes in Chengdu

Tickets snapped up once they become available; venues packed with spectators

On Tuesday evening, the atmosphere at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park's Aquatics Center in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was truly festive as enthusiastic spectators loudly cheered the competitors taking part in the swimming events of the Chengdu FISU World University Games.

South Africa's Erin Gallagher, who is part of the bronze medal winning women's 4X100m freestyle relay team, said that her experience of the competition has been amazing thanks to the crowd support that she has received. "All the Chinese spectators are really enthusiastic. I could hear the crowd screaming when I was in the water, which was really cool," she said.

Her words were echoed by other athletes at the games. Swimmer Megan Van Berkom from the United States said the crowd at the venue was unbelievable as she competed in the women's 400m individual medley final. "It's definitely a festival," she said.

Bryan Leong Xin Ren from Malaysia said the crowd that rooted for him as he competed in the men's 50m butterfly semifinal on Tuesday evening was "world-class".

The crowds at the Chengdu games venues have touched the hearts of the student-athletes across different sports. The loud vocal support from spectators has made the athletes feel encouraged and loved, especially when the going has been tough.

"When I heard the crowd cheering for us loudly during the game, I felt so encouraged," said Cheong Chi-chon, a table tennis player from Macao.

Rhythmic gymnast Khrystyna Pohranychna from Ukraine won the gold medals in the individual hoop and the individual ribbon segments at the Chengdu Sport University Gymnasium on Monday. She felt that the whole venue was full of energy during the events. "When I was performing, the people were screaming and cheering and the whole court was full of love and support. All I was thinking at that time was, 'I'm going to do it now and I love it'," Pohranychna said.

Tickets for the Chengdu games have been in high demand as this is the first time that the city is hosting an international multisport event. It's also the first large international sporting event to take place in China since it adjusted its COVID-19 response mechanism late last year.

Most of the tickets were snapped up as soon as they became available. Every day, the venues have been packed with spectators, many of whom are children.

Zhou Hu and his wife took their son to watch the water polo preliminary matches on Sunday. The family from Ziyang city, Sichuan, drove about two hours to Chengdu to watch the matches. And it has been worth it, Zhou said.

"The tickets are so hard to get. We could only manage to get three to see the water polo preliminaries, which was not our first choice. Still, we are the lucky ones because we could be a part of the Chengdu games at the venues and savor the full experience," he said.

Zhou's son Zhou Yicheng said he most wanted to see the shooting and track and field competitions.

"But I am happy that I've learned about the rules of water polo, which I previously knew nothing about. It's so exciting to watch," the 9-year-old said.

Qu Ying, a water polo player from Team China, said on Sunday that she was surprised to see the huge turnout during the preliminaries.

"I'm so happy to see that there are many children here. It will greatly help to promote water polo, which is not a popular sport in China, among the younger generations," Qu said.