The Boys' Grade A 100m backstroke was won by Wesley Ng (third from bottom).Six new records were set in the morning session of the final day of the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Division One Interschool Swimming Competition on Friday. In the overall ranking at the halfway mark, Diocesan Boys’ School (DBS) was holding a comfortable lead in the boys’ category, while Diocesan Girls’ School (DGS) was 70 points ahead of its opponents in the girls’ category.
The six new records were mainly from last week’s record-breakers. Michael Cheuk Ming-ho of DBS lived up to expectations of renewing his best time from last year in the Boys’ Grade A 200m Freestyle event, pushing the record from 1:50.30s to 1:50.11s.
Michael’s schoolmate Wesley Ng Cheuk-yin set a new record in Boys’ Grade A 100m Backstroke. The Form Six student managed to complete the race in 57.38s, 0.2 seconds faster than his personal best time set last month.
Seven records set on first day of Hong Kong Interschool Swimming Competition
“I’m quite satisfied with the time, but I think my turns were not very good, I didn’t propel myself fully,” Wesley said.
Two star DGS swimmers also refused to let their supporters down. In Girls’ Grade A 200m Freestyle event, record-holder Tinky Ho Nam-wai smashed her own record from last year to win the race with a new record of 2:02.60s.
“To be honest, I thought my performance was just average. I was aiming at a faster time,” the Form Six student said. “For my afternoon races, I just want to do my best. I don’t want to give myself too much pressure.”
Tinky Ho on doing what comes naturally
Fellow DGS student Lillian Wong Sze-ting outswam her competitors in the Girls’ Grade B 50 Freestyle event with a record-breaking time of 26.03s.
Meanwhile, Chloe Cheng of Marymount Secondary School smashed the Girls’ Grade B 100m Freestyle record, with a faster time of 2:02.00. The teenager said she was facing some really strong opponents this year, such as Audrey Lau Ping-yi of DGS, but she was glad to reach a new personal best time.
“I didn’t think about breaking the record before the race, I only wanted to achieve a good time,” Chloe said. “Today I’m one second faster than my personal best time from last time, so I think it is a pretty good improvement.”
The last record from the morning session came from La Salle College’s Benz Lau Ping-chi. He finished the Boys’ Grade A 200m Individual Medley event in 2:05.98s. The record was set by a LSC graduate Marcus Mok Kai-tik last year, whom Benz said has inspired him to strive for the best time no matter what.
“Last year, Marcus was able to set the record right after he returned from the Youth Olympics. He was proof that the number of competitions we take part in shouldn’t limit our performance, I really want to thank him for inspiring me,” the Form Five student said.
As of the end of the morning session, Diocesan Boys’ School had earned 273 points in the three grades combined, which put them in first place in the Boys’ Overall category, followed by St Joseph’s College with 207 points and La Salle College with 205 points.
In Girls’ Overall, Diocesan Girls’ School was leading with 297 points. In second place was Heep Yunn School with 227 points, with Hong Kong International School in third, with 138 points.