“I would say it is a huge success, but since opening day it has been pouring with rain throughout the tournament,” said Raymond Fong, CEO of the Hong Kong, China Lacrosse Association.

“Luckily we had booked the Football Club as a replacement, but it wasn’t that easy to just move the teams. The whole logistics and communication was a bit of a challenge. But we managed it as well as we could.”

Wong said ticket sales had been “great” and only 15 to 20 percent of tickets were bought for individual games, while the rest came from fans who wanted to see the entire tournament.

The CEO said he believed between “30,000 and 40,000 people” watched the tournament over the course of ten days, with the city hosting eight matches a day at its busiest times.

According to official figures, around 2,500 people watched the final, while the opening ceremony on August 15 was attended by around 2,300. However, there have also been cases where the number of fans barely rose above 100 at matches involving teams from Hong Kong, China, Ireland, Jamaica, Canada and the USA.

Fong expressed hope that the tournament would attract more Hong Kongers to the sport. He added that the city would once again host the World Lacrosse Super Sixes and coaches hoped that the men’s and women’s teams would qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“It’s a mountain we have to climb, but we will climb that mountain,” Fong said.

Hong Kong finished 14th overall, slightly lower than the 12th place it achieved in its debut in Canada five years ago.

There were no surprises in Saturday’s final. The USA had been outplaying every team all week, scoring 33 goals in matches against Germany and Australia, and they never looked fazed as they swept Canada off the field to win their sixth of a possible eight world championships.

“We really stuck to the game plan. We wanted to be aggressive, but also very disciplined at the same time,” said Kelly Hiller, the USA head coach.

“I think our girls stayed cool the whole time in terms of their emotional control. It was a great, great game.”

Canada and Australia are the only other teams to have won the tournament, with the North American team appearing in the last three finals.

“It was certainly a difficult match and we knew beforehand that the US team was a strong and difficult team,” said Tami Rayner, Canada’s head coach.

“Hats off to them, they played an incredible tournament, an incredible game, but I think we made the moment a little bigger than it was and we should have been better.”

Earlier, there had been scenes of jubilation in the Japanese camp after the team beat Australia 14-5 in the bronze medal match.

This victory not only secured their best result of the tournament, but also the country’s first bronze medal at a lacrosse world championship.