Paddlers reign in rain, nip Burmese in thriller

JAKARTA – The Philippines beat out Myanmar in a thrilling neck-and-neck finish in the 500m 22-crew final for the gold that went with a silver in the Filipinos’ inspired showing yesterday in the 26th SEA Games traditional boat competitions at Cipule Lake in Bekasi, West Java.

Amid a heavy downpour, the Phl paddlers also struck with a runner-up finish in the 500m 10-crew in a big follow-up to their two-bronze production Saturday.

The Philippines got a second bronze as the appeals jury upheld the protest of the Filipinos disputing the disqualification of the men’s 1,000-meter 12-crew squad by Malaysian chief official Lim Tay Hean.

Buoyed by this development, the Filipino paddlers plunged back to competition with an inspired performance, breaking the dominance of the mighty Myanmar team.

The Filipinos matched the Burmese’ power row by row and won by a whisker with a clocking of 1:53.95, .17 ahead of their favored foes.

The bronze went to Thailand who came in at 1:56.2.

“This (gold) is overwhelming because it more than exceeded our expectations,” said canoe-kayak secretary general Jonne Go.

“This is sweet vindication for these athletes who worked so hard despite the pressure they faced back home,” Go added.

Leadership intramurals divided what could have a much stronger Phl team.

Making the men’s team here are Eduard Balbuena, Jameso Bumahit, Norwell Cajes, Floence Caro, Nelson Cordova, Leonel Imus, Raquiel Espinosa, Dany Funelas, Alex Generalo, Alvin Generalo, Ambrosio Gontinas, Alberto Hugo, Rolando Isidro, Hermie Macaranas, Joseph Magno, Diomedes Manalo, Manuel Maya, Ricky Nacional, Louie Orias, Edcel Penetrante, Ronniel Rafael, Dativo Romares, Ricky Sardena, Alex Sumagaysay and Benedicto Zafra.