Paddlers, Gilas lead monthly Philippine sports achievers

MANILA, Philippines — Dragonboat aces showed the way as the Philippine athletes sparkled in various fronts in November.

The Filipino paddlers made waves in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships in Puerto Princesa with a bountiful harvest of 11 gold, 20 silver and eight bronze medals.

This fiery showing on the waters of Palawan catapulted the host team to the overall championship ahead of Thailand (8-0-0), Individual Neutral Athletes (6-3-3) and 21 other nations and earned the Philippine Sportswriters Association's nod as the top achievers for the penultimate month of 2024.

Stalwarts from other team sports as well as individual sports also struck hard and gave honor to the country.

Gilas Pilipinas men beat World No. 22 New Zealand for the first time in FIBA competition, 93-89, then followed it up with a 93-54 romp over Hong Kong to go 4-0 in Group B of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena. The twin kill in Window 2 sent the Nationals straight into the 2025 Asia Cup main tournament in Saudi Arabia with a window to spare in the qualifying stage.

The Philippines’ baseball squad scored a five-peat in the BFA XIV East Asia Baseball Cup in Clark, completing a clean sweep of the competition with a 9-2 dispatching of Hong Kong in the finals. The triumph gave the Pinoy batters their deserved place in next year’s Asian Baseball Championship.

Filipino chessers made the right moves in the 32nd World Senior Chess Championships in Portugal with International Master Chito Garma reigning supreme in the Blitz event of the 50+ category with an impressive 8-1 record and FIDE Master Mario Mangubat ruling the Rapid event in the 65 + category with 4.5 points out of six games.

Zyka Angelica Santiago captured the mint in the Young Adult Individual Mixed category of the 1st World Taekwondo Virtual Championships at OCBC Arena in Singapore while 2020 Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Asian Games gold medalist Margielyn Didal topped the women's division of the Red Bull Buenos Aires Conquest in Argentina in her return to competition off an ankle injury.

Joining the honor roll were the Philippine curling team, which boosted its bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics by conquering the Pan-Continental Curling Championships B Division in Canada and gaining promotion to the A Division, and the comebacking Filipino netters who took care of business in their comeback stints in Bahrain and earned upgrades to Group II of the Billie Jean King Cup Asia Oceania (women’s) and Group IV of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania (men’s).