Pinoy paddlers dominant overall Championships

PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines — Ending with a flourish, the Philippines bagged the overall title in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships here on a calm, sunny Sunday morning at the course overlooking the Puerto Princesa Baywalk here.

In front of a lively hometown crowd, the Filipino paddlers added two gold, five silver and two bronze medals for an impressive 11-20-16 overall tally.

Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand took runner-up honors with eight golds while the INA (Individual Neutral Athlete) squad was third with a haul of six golds, three silvers and three bronzes in the meet supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and Tingog party-list. 

The hosts won a hotly-contested masters mixed 20-seater standard boat 500-meter race in two minutes and 6.34 seconds, nosing out Singapore (2:06.73) while Germany was not too far behind in third (2:07.98) in the competition organized by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragon Boat Federation.

The Filipinos were also runaway winners in the 40+ 20-seater women’s 2,000-meter standard boat event (10:42.31) over runner-up Canada (10:48.64) and took silvers in the 20-seater mixed standard boat 500-meter  (1:58.13), 40+ 10-seater mixed 500-meter (2:19.45), 20-seater open (9:23.16) and 40+ 20-seater open 5,000-meter (9:34.47) races.

But the 20-seater mixed standard 500-meters was the most thrilling as the hosts virtually led from start to finish until they were beaten in the last 10 meters by the late-charging Ukrainians, who snatched the gold in 1:57.51.   

They also bagged the last bronze of the day in the 40+ 10-seater open 500-meter (2:15.93) event in the four-day tournament also supported by the Puerto Princesa City government led by Mayor Lucilo Bayron and Lacoste watches.

“We practically made history every day so I am very proud of our national paddlers and how we organized this big event sanctioned by the International Canoe Federation,” said PCKDF president Leonora “Lenlen” Escollante.