PDBF wants NSA tag, not SEAG slot

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF) failed to attend the “unification” meeting with Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Philippine Canoe-Kayak yesterday but said it is not after the SEA Games berth but wants a reinstatement of the PDBF as an NSA (national sports association).

In a phone interview, PDBF president Marcia Cristobal said she couldn’t make it to the meeting due to a previous commitment although she stressed that the agenda for the meeting was not quite defined.

“There was no clear agenda. I was told early morning by a staff of chairman Garcia that it was all about the SEA Games. But the issue that we’re actually bringing out is really the reinstatement of the PDBF as an NSA (National Sports Association),” she said.

“Since the group was here, we just discussed what will happen with the SEA Games (dragonboat team). Canoe-kayak said they will maintain their program to form a team for the SEAG from their pool,” said PSC chairman Richie Garcia, who hosted the meeting upon the suggestion of the House Committee on Sports and Youth Development.

“I suggested even, why don’t you work on a time trial to form a team? Set it at a distance similar to that in Florida (IDBF world championships) and see if they are at par. They said it’s okay with them,” he added.

The PDBF has been ordered by the POC to be under the PCKF, leading to the paddlers’ loss of recognition as national team. The PDBF Dragon Warriors won five gold medals in the Florida worlds recently.

“We would want to let the athletes training from the PCKF compete in the SEAG since their minds are already focused on it. We don’t want to hurt feelings,” Cristobal said. “Bottomline is, they’re Filipinos, we’ll still be cheering for them.”

Garcia said the win-win solution is to have PDBF join the PCKF but still “function independently” in terms of operations, recruitment and training program such as the case of water polo under aquatics and aerobics under gymnastics.