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Pinoy paddlers dominant overall Championships

The Philippine Star
Pinoy paddlers dominant overall Championships
The Philippine team celebrates after bagging the overall title in the ICF World Dragon Boat Championships with host Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron receiving the trophy.

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.

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