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It's raining gold for PHL dragon boat racers at worlds


Cash-strapped and unheralded, the Philippine dragon boat team won four more medals, three of which were gold, at the 10th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Tampa, Florida. With its four gold medals so far, the nation's dragon boat racers have already achieved more than any other PHL sports teams this year. And the championships are not over yet. The final events are scheduled on Sunday, US east coast time. Around 2,000 athletes from 17 countries are competing for the sport's top honors in various events.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV The PHL Dragon Warriors topped the 200 meter men’s small boat event Saturday, while the team won its third gold in the Premier Mixed Small Boat event in record-breaking fashion.

PHL dragon boat racers, gold medal winners in the small boat 500m premier race, rejoice at world championships in Tampa, Florida. Perry de Venecia
The Filipino paddlers registered a time of 57.07 seconds in the 200m mixed event to break the previous record of 1:00.719 seconds. Puerto Rico (1:03.393) and Italy (1:03.941) settled for the silver and bronze medals, respectively. The 200-meter events are the shortest distances in dragon boat racing and considered the sprints. Team manager Army Maj. Harold Cabundoc, in a report at aired on 24Oras weekend, said the dragon boat paddlers finished the first and second heats with a time of 55 and 56 seconds, respectively. The team won its fourth gold medal Saturday in 500-meter Premier Open Mixed Event. The Philippines won its first gold in the 1000-m small boat event with a record-breaking time of 4:57.13. They added a silver medal after placing second to Russia (54.42 seconds) in the All Comers 200m small boat event with a time of 55.17 seconds. Canada placed third (56 seconds). The team previously won the men's 200-meter gold with a record time of 42.16 seconds in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The team successfully defended its world title in the 2009 edition in Prague, Czech Republic with another record-breaking performance (40.02 seconds). Elated dragon boat fans have been asking, "Where is the love?" UP lawyer Ted Te tweeted Sunday morning: "You shouldn't be able to argue with success. So why no mad scramble to put the PHL team on billboards? No Phil-whathisface, that's why." It was an obvious reference to mestizo Azkals player Phil Younghusband, a billboard superstar whose team was eliminated by Kuwait in the World Cup qualifiers. The country's most popular team sports, basketball and football, have not garnered anywhere near the kind of success that the dragon boat racers have achieved on the world stage in Tampa, Florida. Many of the national-team paddlers are enlisted men and women in the Philippine Army, but they participated in Florida with little government support, their airfare mostly paid for by private sponsors.– JVP/HS, GMA News
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