Paddlers golden drive ends at five

MANILA, Philippines - The Cobra-Philippine Dragon Boat Federation team stamped its class in the Premier Open 500-meter race to cap a sparkling five-gold, two-silver campaign in the 10th International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships which came to a close yesterday in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Competing in their last event in the small boat division, the Pinoys first imposed their will in the heats, topping Heat 1 with 2:38.479 to advance all the way to the grand finals while the rest had to go through the semifinal races.

The Filipinos sustained their fiery form in the grand finals, covering the distance in an even faster 2:23.535 clocking as they left behind rivals from Australia (2:29.299), Japan (2:36.365), and Italy (2:38.384) for their fifth title of the world meet.

Already world champions in standard boat hostilities in previous editions, the Phl paddlers have validated their status as a global power in the sport despite lack of funding and support from the country’s sports bodies.

“After four days of grueling battle in boat racing, the Philippine Dragon Boat Team has bagged five gold medals and two silver medals,” Pinoy Dragon Warrior team manager Army Maj. Harold Cabunoc said.

The Filipinos kicked off their stint with the men’s 1,000m title on Thursday and stretched their dominance in the premier mixed 200m and premier men’s 200m events Friday and small boat 500-meter premier mixed final Saturday.

They also pocketed silver medals in the premier all-comers mixed 200m and premier all-comers Open 200m.

The Filipinos competed in a new category this year, the small boat division (crew of 10 plus a drummer and steerer) instead of the standard play (24 members plus drummer and steerer) primarily due to lack of funds. They thus failed to defend their men’s and mixed 200m titles in the standard category in this year’s worlds.

Rival teams were equally impressed with the Filipinos performance.

“It is an honor playing with the best of the world. It is comparable to playing football against Brazil,” the steersman of Trinidad and Tobago told Cabunoc.

“I like the high level of discipline and camaraderie of the Team Philippines. They have developed a technique that we must try to learn,” David Avila, a senior paddler from Team USA was quoted by Cabunoc as saying.