Black Kites swimmers soar high at the HKSSF 2025 championships
By Bradley Tang
Black Kites brought home 13 individual medals, four relay team medals, and four team trophies at the 2025 HKSSF
While most students were enjoying their term break, 34 RCHK Black Kites swimmers raced against 680 swimmers from 45 other schools in the Sha Tin and Sai Kung school district at the Schools Sports Federation of Hong Kong (HKSSF) meet on October 13th and 15th. With intermittent heavy downpours kicking off the first events, our swimmers embraced the uncertain weather with excitement at the Ma On Shan Swimming Pool.
The Shatin and Sai Kung districts have some of the most competitive sports-specialised schools in Hong Kong. Although RCHK’s Black Kites faced some challenges competing against these top schools, our swimmers certainly did not disappoint. With both Bradley Tang (Year 8) and Chi Ching Ng (Year 10) winning silver in the Boys Grade C 100-meter Breaststroke and Girls Grade B 100-meter Backstroke events, respectively, and Maia Jim (Year 9) placing fourth in the Girls Grade C 100-meter Backstroke event, the first day kicked off with a strong performance. This was followed by a bronze medal in the Girls C Grade 4 x 50-meter freestyle relay, swum by Natalie Chan (Year 9), Andrea Chan (Year 9), Blair Chan (Year 8), and Olivia Jim (Year 7). The Black Kites entered the 2025 HKSSF competition with a presence that could not be ignored, but this was just the beginning.
During the afternoon session of Day 1, the Black Kites continued the strong start from the morning session with the 50m qualifiers in the afternoon. The energy was kept high all day, especially when 13 of our swimmers qualified for their 50m finals!
To our delight, on Day 2, Hercules Ma (Year 9) tied the HKSSF Boys Grade C record for the 50m Freestyle event set in 2022/23 with a time of 26.58, claiming gold. The 200m Breaststroke Gold for Boys Grade A went to our very own Co-Captain Kal-el Chow (Year 12). “My most memorable part was definitely winning my [200m] Breaststroke race. I’ve been swimming all my life, but this was the first Gold medal I’ve won in swimming,” Kal-el said. “As a team, just the teamwork we had...I could see everyone cheering each other on, which really boosted morale.”
Medal Table Summary
| Swimmer(s) | Group | Event | Time | Place* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kal-el Chow | Boys, Grade A | 50m Breaststroke 200m Breaststroke |
31.83 2:50.38 |
2nd 1st |
| Haze Leung | Girls, Grade A | 200m Freestyle | 2:52.71 | 4th |
| Marcus Leung | Boys, Grade B | 50m Freestyle | 26.95 | 4th |
| Chi Ching Ng | Girls, Grade B | 100m Backstroke 50m Backstroke |
1:17.30 35.35 |
2nd 3rd |
| Chi Ching Ng, Ellie Blackman, Hailey Lee, Cheryl Chan | Girls, Grade B | 4 x 50 Medley Relay | 2:32.38 | 4th |
| Giles Tang | Boys, Grade B | 200m Freestyle | 2:15.11 | 3rd |
| Bradley Tang | Boys, Grade C | 100m Breaststroke 200m Breaststroke |
1:18.46 2:54.36 |
2nd 4th |
| Hercules Ma | Boys, Grade C | 200m Individual Medley 50m Freestyle |
2:31.10 26.58 |
1st 1st (TIED RECORD) |
| Hercules Ma, Karson Chuang, Bradley Tang, Isaac Lee | Boys, Grade C | 4 x 50 Medley Relay | 2:12.06 | 2nd |
| Miki Ma | Girls, Grade C | 200m Individual Medley | 3:29.22 | 4th |
| Maia Jim | Girls, Grade C | 200m Individual Medley 100m Backstroke |
2:57.25 1:22.24 |
2nd 4th |
| Natalie Chan, Andrea Chan, Blair Chan, Olivia Jim | Girls, Grade C | 4 x 50 Freestyle Relay | 2:18.15 | 3rd |
| Miki Ma, Maia Jim, Jiayan Deng, Anya Wang | Girls, Grade C | 4 x 50 Medley Relay | 2:34.51 | 3rd |
*Only swimmers who have placed in the top 4 are listed.
Grade definitions
- Grade A: Born on or after 1st January 2007
- Grade B: Born on or after 1st January 2010
- Grade C: Born on or after 1st January 2012
The Boys Grade C Medley Relay team with their silver medals, from far left: Karson Chuang, Bradley Tang, Hercules Ma, and Isaac Lee
The HKSSF two-day event wrapped up with the exciting 4 x 50-meter Medley relays. With Hercules Ma (Year 9) swimming Backstroke, Karson Chuang (Year 8) in the Breaststroke leg, Bradley Tang (Year 8) in the Butterfly leg, and Isaac Lee (Year 8) anchoring with a strong Freestyle leg, the Boys Grade C team surged to a silver medal with a time of 2:12.06, closely behind record-breaking team from Lam Tai Fai College.
A Black Kites swimmer diving in the Boys Grade C Medley Relay
The Girls Grade B and Grade C Medley Relay teams also came home with two medals. The Grade B team, composed of Chi Ching Ng (Year 10), Ellie Blackman (Year 11), Hailey Lee (Year 11), and Cheryl Chan (Year 10), placed fourth. Additionally, the Girls Grade C team, composed of Miki Ma (Year 8), Maia Jim (Year 9), Jiayan Deng (Year 8), and Anya Wang (Year 8), won bronze.
Black Kites won four trophies from the overall age categories including 3rd place in Boys Grade C, 3rd place in Girls Grade C, 8th place in Boys Grade B and 5th place in Girls Grade B.
The two-day competition was led by RCHK aquatics coaches, Mr Chris Molnar and Mr Hong Kam, and supported by Ms Liz Boardman. When asked about the team’s performance throughout the event, Mr Molnar said, “I believe this meet was one of the strongest performances at HKSSF in a long while!”
A notable Black Kites captain, Yannick Yeung (Year 13), was missing at this year’s HKSSF, “Unfortunately, I fell ill just before the competition and was unable to compete in my last HKSSF. Black Kites swimmers had a great time smashing personal bests and winning medals individually and in relays — everyone has put in a lot of effort and hard work this year, and I am sure it will pay off!”
With the 2025 HKSSF competition in the rear view, the team is excitedly preparing for this year’s ISSFHK Championship to be held on November 14th, 2025, at Victoria Park Swimming Pool. Mr Molnar added, “I am quite confident that our presence at the ISSFHK Championships will be noticeable after our great start at HKSSF. We have some very strong Black Kites swimmers this year. The team already had two qualifiers at Sai Kung Swimming Pool on September 30th and at Malvern College on October 16th, and the team is definitely ready.”
Additionally, on the Black Kites calendar in late November is the highly anticipated overseas trip to Bangkok Patana School’s Feeding Frenzy swim meet. A record number of swimmers have committed to this trip, making it the biggest team Black Kites will send to Feeding Frenzy thus far. We look forward to the team’s continued success!