Hong Kong Inter-School Swimming Competition 2019: all the final results after an action-packed day

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As expected from the lunchtime results, Diocesan Boys' and Diocesan Girls' Schools took the top spots.

Kelly Ho |
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DBS star swimmer Michael Cheuk Ming-Ho waved the school flag after breaking the Boys’ Grade A 4x50m Freestyle Relay record.

Diocesan Boys’ School and Diocesan Girls’ School were named the overall champions at the Interschool Swimming Competition Finals on Friday. Both schools made a clean sweep in all grades to achieve a “Grand Slam” victory. DBS successfully fulfilled its winning streak for 27 years in a row, while DGS rejoiced at seizing their 32nd successive title.

The reigning Boys’ Overall champion established an early lead in the Boys’ Overall category with the help of star swimmers such as Michael Cheuk Ming-ho and Wesley Ng Cheuk-yin, who came out on top in their events with record-breaking times.

DBS also set two new records in the relay events in the afternoon, including Boys’ Grade A 4x50m Freestyle Relay and Boys’ Grade C 4x50m Medley Relay. Their remarkable results helped the school to gain a total of 508 points to come out on top among 12 schools in the highest division of the Hong Kong Island and Kowloon districts.

Six records broken at Hong Kong Interschool Swimming Competition 2019

Speaking to the media at the prize presentation ceremony, DBS team captain Wesley Ng said as a leader of the team, he had to change his mindset from focusing on breaking records in his individual events to facilitating the team to rise to the top.

“This year is not about my individual records, but the overall results of the team. Learning to prioritise the team before me is something that I learned after picking up the leadership role,” Wesley said.

He also praised the performances of swimmers from lower forms, saying the junior swimmers are emerging as the pillars of the victorious team.

Diocesan Girls’ School has been the Girls’ Overall Champion for 32 years in a row.
Photo: Kelly Ho/SCMP

“I hope the junior swimmers will lead DBS to victory again next year, but I don’t want them to put too much pressure on themselves. After all, no team is invincible, they just have to try their best,” the Form Six student said.

The first runner up in Boys’ Overall category went to St. Joseph’s College with 390 points, followed up La Salle College with 382 points.

Meanwhile in the Girls’ Overall category, DGS faced little competition in making their way to the throne again. Their record-breaking swimmers Tinky Ho Nam-wai and Lillian Wong Sze-ting were the stars of the show in the Girls’ Grade A and B freestyle events respectively.

Students at Inter-school Swimming Competition sing Glory to Hong Kong ahead of prize-giving

The school also smashed two relay records - the Girls’ Grade B 4x50m Freestyle Relay and the Grade C 4x50m Medley Relay. DGS earned a total of 569 points, which gave them a comfortable lead ahead of Heep Yunn School (433 points) and Hong Kong International School (239 points).

When asked if they see no threat from other schools, the DGS captain said they were in fact worried about their chances of winning the Grade A category, but the team did surprisingly well, thanks to their unity and support for one another.

Although the team has had an unbroken run of victories for more than three decades, they do not want swimmers following in their footsteps to feel stressed about maintaining their undefeatable record.

“We can’t say for sure what will happen in the future, our only hope is for DGS swimmers to give their all in their races,” said Leung Hui-tung, one of the four DGS captains.

Together with the records set in the morning session, and those smashed on Day One, this year’s Interschool Swimming Competition saw the birth of a total of 17 new records.

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