Phl rowers cop four more golds in world meet

MANILA, Philippines - Team Philippines showed its stuff as the fastest paddlers on short distance races, copping four gold medals in Saturday’s 200-meter competition in in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships 2014 in Poznan, Poland.

Phl went four-for-four on a highly-productive day at Malta Regatta Course, outdueling rival Russia each time to rack up its golden collection to five along with three silvers.

The Pinoy paddlers reached the finish almost two seconds ahead of the Russians in the chase for the seniors men’s 20-seater, logging 40’77 against the latter’s 42’12. Hungary was third with 44’11.

Phl’s juniors 10-seater bets also blitzed past their Russian counterparts with a 50’97 winning time. Russia checked in at 52’93 to settle for runner-up honors as Canada took the bronze in 53’93.

The Filipinos edged the Russians in neck-to-neck battles for the seniors men’s 10-seater and seniors mixed 10-seater plums.

The Phl seniors men’s crew covered the distance in 49’01, barely ahead of Russia which came in at 49’17, while its seniors mixed bets prevailed in 51’20 against Russia’s 51’23.

Earlier in the 500-meter distance, the Pinoy contingent had collared the gold in juniors 10-seater and grabbed the silver medals behind Russia in the seniors men’s 10-seater and 20-seater events, and seniors mixed 10-seater race.

Team Phl will seek to add to their tally in the 2,000-meter races slated on the last day of the world meet.