RP dragon boat teams surpass qualifying times for Guangzhou Asiad

The Philippine national dragon boat teams showed they are worthy of being included in the country’s Guangzhou Asian Games-bound delegation by easily surpassing the qualifying times during Monday’s time trials at the La Mesa Dam in Quezon City. The men’s team, the reigning world champions in the 200-meter event with a record time of 40.022 seconds, submitted 41.88-mark for the same distance while clocking 1:47.53 in the 500m and 3:46.40 in the 1000m. For their part, the women’s team negotiated the three distances in 46.85 seconds (200m), 1:58:38 (500m) and 4:08:66 (1000m). The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has asked the dragon boat teams to go through the qualifying stage despite the numerous medals they have won from various international competitions since 2004. The men’s team has already collected 43 gold medals while the women’s squad has won 11 medals of the same color. The qualifying times set by the POC were the bronze-medal-winning times in the three distances during the 2008 Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Penang, Malaysia. The times for the men’s are 44.74 seconds, 1:55.70 and 5:04.53, and 49:07, 2:06:85 and 5:28 for the women’s squad. POC screening committee member Clarito Samson, POC board member Col. Jeff Tamayo and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner Salvador Andrada attended the trials. "We’re really confident our paddlers will be able to surpass the time trials set," said a jubilant Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF) president Marcia Cristobal, who cheered for the national team members together with PDBF chairman and rowing president Benjie Ramos. "Medyo napahirapan kaming pumasok sa Asian Games delegation at naipakita naman namin na kayang makuha ang target time," said technical director and coach Nestor Ilagan. "The team will still go into evaluation before the Asian Games. Our aim is to win the gold in the Asian Games and if we feel that we are not capable of winning, then we will not push through with our trip to save money," added Ilagan. "We have requested for ew paddles and uniforms, which I hope will arrive on time. We have a lot of work to do because the competition in the Asian Games is tough, with China, Indonesia and Myanmar as our rivals. Hopefully we will be able to deliver what we promise, a gold medal," said Ilagan. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV