Dragon Warriors land 2 more golds

MANILA, Philippines - The Cobra-Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF) team continued to make waves in the 10th International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) World Championships in Tampa Bay, Florida, copping two gold medals plus a silver in Day 3.

Picking up from their record-breaking romp in the Premier 1000m (small boat) the previous day, the Filipino paddlers extended their reign in the Premier 200-meter mixed event in 57.07 seconds.

Settling for crumbs were Trinidad and Tobago (1:00.719), Puerto Rico (1:03.393) and Italy (1:03.941).

The Phl “Dragon Warriors” also topped the 200-meter men’s event with 58.069, besting Australia (58.175) and Japan (1:00.735) for the mint.

The Pinoys, however, were only good for silver in the small boat all-comers premier open, clocking 55.17 behind Russia’s 54.42. Canada was third in 56.00.

The team, which entered the tourney without support from the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, blasted its way to the podium at the start of hostilities.

They covered the distance in 4:57.130, establishing a new world mark against struggling Australia (5:00.09) and Hungary (5:03.71).

The Phl Dragon Boat team is highly regarded in the sport, having risen to the throne in the men’s 200m standard events in 2007 in Sydney and 2009 in Prague, Czech Republic, both in record fashion.

But this year, the team is competing not in the standard division (22 members) but in the small boat (10 members). This is largely due to lack of funds and the retirement of some paddlers following PDBF’s ouster from the POC and the removal of allowances from the PSC.

Malacanang congratulated the team for its feat with deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte calling on the Filipinos to cheer for all Filipino athletes.

“They still have several competitions coming up in the next few days. We wish them well. We wish them good luck and we exhort our kababayans to support our Philippine Dragon Boat Team in the same way we have supported our Azkals and all our other teams,” said Valte over dzRB.

Sen. Pia Cayetano also congratulated the team, lauding them for bucking the odds.

“They may lack funds but not in will and character. Congratulations to the Philippine Dragon Boat Team,” said Cayetano, an avid biker and triathlete.

However, POC spokesperson Mark Joseph sent text messages that seemed to downplay or question the paddlers’ achievement.

“The Philippines joined the ‘world’ dragon boat competition with about 15 countries participating. We raced in the small boat mixed 200 meters category against Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago; also in the small boat 200 meters against the same countries plus Japan, Australia and Italy. Our paddlers were lucky. All the competitors had to race in the official 1km and 2km events,” said Joseph.