Pinoy paddlers capture four golds in ICF event
PUERTO PRINCESA City — Home sweet home for host Philippines.
Flaunting its world-class talents infront of a highly-appreciative home crowd, the Philippines captured four gold medals in the second dayof the 2024 ICF-Dragon Boat World Championships at City Baywalk here Friday.
The Filipino paddlers clocked 47.07 seconds and bagged the gold medal in the standard board mixed 200-meters against Canada and Russia, known here as Individual Neutral Athletes, which timed 48.69 and 49.03, respectively.
The Filipinos continued their strong showing with another gold medal in the women’s 40+ 200-meter event in time of 49.41 seconds.
The Filipinos edged Czechoslovakia (50.84) and Hungary (52.12) in the event organized by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragon Boat Federation (PCKDF), headed by Len Escollante, and the Puerto Princesa City government, led by Mayor Lucilo Bayron and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Tingog party-list, Lacoste Watches, PAGCOR, and Philippine Olympic Committee.
The Filipinos also took the golds in the men’s standard board 200-meter event (49.01) and women’s standard board 200-meter event (55.22).
The host nation added the silver medal in the men’s 20-seater standard boat open event (47.59) and the bronze in the women’s 20-seater 200-meter event (55.22) to its medal haul.
The Filipinos are actually hoping to surpass, if not match, their five gold and two silver medals during the 2018 edition at Lanier Lake in Gainesville, Georgia.
“Ginawa lang namin yung ginawa namin sa training with some slight changes. Huminga kami ng malalim then tuloy-tuloy na. Sabi nga, full throttle,” said national team skipper OJ Fuentes.
“Sa last 10 meters, gitgitan na yan. Masaya kaming makakuha ng first gold pero hindi pa tapos yung misyon namin. Umpisa pa lang yan at hopefully sunod-sunod na,” added Fuentes.
The Filipinos moved in vantage position to win a fifth gold medal after advancing to the finals of the mixed 200-meter Saturday in topping their semifinal heat in 52.06 seconds.
The Filipinos’ silver medal came in the Open 200-meters with a time of 47.59.
Thailand took the gold with a time of with 40.37 while Hong Kong settled for the bronze with 47.76.
In the 20-seater women’s 200-meters, the Filipinas settled for the bronze medal after bowing to Thailand and Individual Neutral Athletes (Russia).
The Filipinos are also hoping to qualify for the World Games in Chengdu, China in 2025.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bayron encouraged all the delegates to enjoy the beauty and inspiration of what the city can offer as it is home to a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Subterranean River National Park.
The Philippine government’s support to the first-ever staging of international Dragonboat championships in the country as well as within the Southeast Asian Region also gets in time with the declaration of “Moving Forward Paddling Week Philippines” every fourth week of October signed by PBBM through Proclamation No. 699.
This order encouraged all government entities and private sectors to support the Dragonboat community and its objectives for the benefit of the people, primarily instructing the PSC on crafting programs in line with its celebration.
“The PSCis hereby directed to lead, coordinate, and supervise the observance of the Moving Forward Paddling Week Philippines, and identify the programs, activities and projects for the celebration thereof,” the President said in the Oct. 2 proclamation signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
