A fencing duel between movie star Donnie Yen and Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong, a medley performance by celebrity couple George Lam and Sally Yeh, and a surprise appearance by singer and actor Andy Lau were some of the highlights for the opening ceremony of Kai Tak Sports Park on Saturday night.

The show, which went on until 8:35pm, half an hour longer than scheduled, was capped by a brief fireworks display.

Spectators said they were dazzled by the overall experience. Jimmy and Dhillon said they were super excited to see Donnie Yen.

"They had a fencing demonstration just now, mixing kung fu and fencing. Donnie Yen fencing against Vivian Kong, the Hong Kong champion. It looks like we are in the Olympics," they said.

Another attendee, Gary, was pleased with his clear view to the stage, even he sat in the upper section.

"My seat is the top (row) one. So my sight is all the stadium and very huge. It makes me feel great. I’m very proud that Hong Kong has this (stadium)," he said.

Alan, who went with his girlfriend, praised the facilities inside the stadium, although he felt the sound quality can be improved.

"The number of toilets is beyond my expectations… Just [every] few steps there's a toilet," he said.

He also hoped spectators can bring their own food or drinks in the future.

"We did not buy any drinks or food inside - just the price consideration. We wanted to buy the popcorn but that is not the fresh popcorn, just pre-prepared food," he said.

A woman from Zhuhai was overjoyed to see Andy Lau in person.

"Everyone was hoping to see the four heavenly kings," Zhang said, referring to 1990s Hong Kong pop idols Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung and Leon Lai.

"It was awesome enough to see one of them show up."

The event also drew in Jeffery and Arnold, both engineers involved in the sports park project.

"For me, it's like what you said, our baby. So it feels like we accomplished something because of our hardships and all the struggles that we faced here during the construction. Yeah, all the tears, the sweat," Jeffrey said.