MILESTONE ACHIEVED: Filipino paddlers set all-time best in world meet

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — The Philippines continued to sustain its winning drive late Saturday to attain a new milestone in sinking its previous best in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships despite the windswept and choppy course overlooking the Puerto Princesa Baywalk here.

As a sudden afternoon downpour and strong winds struck, the Filipino paddlers overcame the adverse conditions and matched their haul of four golds in the morning of the meet supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Tingog partylist.

Their golden blitz was capped by back-to-back wins in the 40+ women’s standard boat 500-meter event in two minutes and 16.32 seconds and in the men’s 40+ open men’s standard boat 500-meter race in 1:59.23 of the meet organized by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Federation (PCKDF).

At the end of a productive day, the national standard-bearers had collected eight gold, six silver and six bronze medals, surpassing the previous best of five gold, one silver and two bronzes the last time they saw action in the 2018 edition of the global dragon boat showcase in Gainesville, Georgia.

“The achievement of our paddlers yesterday (Friday) was certainly overwhelming after what happened to us on the opening day when we did not win a single gold medal,” stressed PCKDF president Leonora “Lenlen” Escollante, who was the national coach then of the previous record.

“This historic accomplishment was a total team effort: From athletes, coaches, the support staff, everyone responsible in making sure that our national paddlers would excel in this tournament,” Escollante added.

“I am now very optimistic we will add more golds to our collection before this tournament is over.”

She continued to pay tribute to the Puerto Princesa City government led Lucilo Bayron for its meticulous preparations so that the championships that draw a record field of 27 countries and close to 2,000 participants could be held in Palawan’s scenic provincial coastal capital.

“All of our sacrifices in training and competitions paid off. All the sacrifices and hard work was worth it,” noted national coach Duchess Co of the new all-time best of the hometown campaigners since the country started competing at the worlds a decade ago in Poznan, Poland.

The Pinoy paddlers added a quartet of silvers early Saturday morning in the 40+ 10-seater open standard boat 200-meter event in 52.72 seconds and 40+ 10-seater women’s standard boat race (58.66 seconds) and junior 10-seater open (2:16.23) and junior women 500-meter runs (2:47.97).

The Filipino bets also had an encouraging outcome in the 200-meter small boat mixed event Saturday, finishing a close fifth place in 52.12 seconds where all six squads were virtually neck-and-neck until the last 10 meters.

Banking on a strong finishing kick, Indonesia topped the race in 50.59 seconds while Myanmar and Chinese-Taipei were in a dead heat for runner-up honors with identical times of 51.20 seconds, Spain took fourth spot in 51.37 seconds.

“It was really a tight race. Fortunately, we played our hearts out and refused to quit,” stressed national team skipper OJ Fuentes.