'Move to drop dragon boat from POC won't hold water'

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation said yesterday the Philippine Olympic Committee will be making a big mistake if it decides to strip PDBF of its regular membership.

“Dragon boat racing is a separate and distinct sport and it has its own IOC-recognized international federation,” said PDBF chair Benjamin Ramos.

This came about after the POC was reported to have made moves to withdraw recognition from the group and make it a canoe/kavak discipline under the Philippine Canoe Kayak Federation.

Ramos added that no less than the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federation) has determined that dragon boat racing is not a discipline of canoe kayak.

“The POC should not withdraw recognition of PDBF as the NSA (national sports association) for the sport of dragon boat racing because PDBF is a member of the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) and the Asian Dragon Boat Federation (ADBF) and the latter is recognized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).”

Based on Article 13 of the OCA statutes (annex H), the POC is required to “include within its organization representatives of the National Governing Bodies of sports in which that country is participating in the Asian Games. These governing bodies should be affiliated to their respective IFs or to the respective Asian Sports Federations in lieu thereof in the race of regional sport.”

“It is illogical to place dragon boat racing under the Philippine Canoe/Kayak Federation because it is not involved in the sport and lacks the recognition of IDBF and ADBF as the NSA for dragon boating,” explained Ramos. “For one, the Philippine dragon boat team cannot participate in the 2010 Asia Games under PCKF.”

Even the former international canoe president, Sergio Orsi, categorically said that “Dragon Boating was not a canoeing discipline and the ICF was not interested to develop it.”

Local dragon boat racers made headlines during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games here when they swept all six gold medals disputed in the competition.

When sought for his comment, POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros said: “The POC is still studying the matter. It has created a committee to look into this, but there’s no concrete move so far to withdraw recognition from the dragon boat federation.”