Phl bags 2 golds in world dragon boat

MANILA, Philippines - After missing the opening 2,000-meter races, the late-arriving Cobra-Pal Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF) team immediately made its presence felt and captured two gold medals in Friday’s 500-meter races in the 12th IDBF World National Dragon Boat Championships in Ontario, Canada.

The Pinoy paddlers, who landed in Canada only last Thursday, romped off with the mints in the small boat category’s 500-m premier mixed and senior A competitions to vault to second in the overall medal standings of small boat behind Australia’s 5-1-2.

The Filipinos grabbed the premier mixed diadem with a time of 4:26.942, nosing out Macau (4:31.437) and Hungary (4:34.422) in the three-round race.

Phl actually ran second behind Macau in the first round with 2:15.610, but rebounded strong in the second and third, where they submitted a top clocking of 2:12.886 and 2:14.056 to overtake their rivals. Under tournament rules, the two best times from the three rounds of each team will be added for the final clocking.

The Cobra-Pal squad later annexed the Seniors A gold with 4:53.905 against Puerto Rico, which did not start. The Filipinos clocked 2:27.00 in the first round, returned with a 2:27.923 and capped their showing with a 2:26.905 to formally clinch it.

The two-gold harvest put the Phl crew closer to its target of three.

They will gun for it in their forte, the 200-meter distance, where they will vie in the premier open, premier mixed and Senior A mixed races as well as in the 500-meter hostilities.