RP Dragon Boat rowers scoop 2 gold medals in world meet

The Philippines' rowers made waves as they won two gold medals in the 9th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships that ended Sunday in Prague, Czech Republic. The Filipino rowers retained their title in the Premier Open 200-meter event and for good measure, ruled the Premier Mixed 200m competition to cap a successful campaign. “Our paddlers did their best and succeeded in making the Philippines bigger in the world of dragon boat," Nestor Ilagan, technical director of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation, said in a text message from Prague.

Engaged in a tight race with perennial rival China early on, the RP men’s team made a big push at the homestretch en route to winning their second straight Premier Open 200m crown in the biennial world meet. The nationals negotiated the distance in 40.022 seconds, improving the 42.16-second clocking they submitted in winning the same event in the 2007 World Championships in Sydney, Australia. China, the same squad that settled for the silver medal two years ago, was a fraction of a second slower than the Philippines with its 40.125 seconds. Rowers from the host country took the bronze with their 42.307 seconds. On their way to the crown, the Filipinos topped heat 1 with a time 43.346 seconds to advance outright into the semifinal phase then submitted the fastest clocking in the semis (40.486 seconds) to lead the six qualifiers to the finals. Complementing that successful title-retention campaign was another golden performance in the Mixed Open 200m division. The country’s top male and female rowers joined forces to sweep past their rivals from Asia, the US and Europe with a winning time of 43.507 seconds. The Filipinos were more than two seconds faster than their closest rival, China, which clocked 45.951 seconds. Settling for a distant third was Germany with 48.635 seconds. Not as successful, though, were the Philippines’ bets in the Premier 2,000m and 1,000m events, settling for ninth and fifth places, respectively. Still, with the two gold medals they won in this year's world championships, the Filipino Dragon Boat rowers improved on their previous harvest of one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. - GMANews.TV