5 August 2011, Friday, at the 10th World Dragon Boat Championships held at Tampa Bay, Florida, teams from around the world congregate to compete in the Premier 1000m (small boat) event. Who won? Not China, where the sports originated. Not the superpower United States. The Filipino Dragon Boat Team paddled their way to the gold! Woohoo! Congratulations to the Philippine Dragon Boat team.
But wait, there’s more. The team previously won two world titles in the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) competitions, breaking world speed records. This time, in the team’s third international gold, they surpassed their own world record. They clocked 4 minutes and 57.13 seconds. While waiting for a better video of the 2011 win, here’s a recap of the team’s previous victories.
More events are set to be contested. The 10th World Dragon Boat Championships is scheduled from August 3 to August 7. Update: The Team gathered a total of 7 medals - 5 gold medals (Men’s Division 1000 meters; Mixed Division 200 meters; Men’s Division 200 meters; Mixed Division 500 meters; Men’s Division 500 meters) and 2 silver medals (All Comers Men’s Division 200 meters; All Comers Mixed Division 500 meters).
Kudos to Cobra Energy Drink (from now on, will shift loyalty to you guys when it comes to energy drinks) and Philippine Airlines for graciously taking up the slack and sponsoring this world-class team. The Philippine Sports Commission apparently stopped funding the Philippine Dragon Boat Team. What happened and what’s wrong with the PSC and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)?
Reports indicate that the IDBF passed the hat to pay for the housing of the Philippine team, making sure that the team could compete because the event without the Philippine team is like the World Cup without Brazil. The Filipino community in Florida not only cheered the team, but also contributed to feed them). World-class team. Treated like garbage by government agencies. Yan, yan ang utak wang-wang. Paging PNoy!
POC Director Jeff Tamayo called the winning dragon boat team “ampaw”? They are already old? Tsk tsk tsk. Rubbing salt to the injury. What’s with the politics and priorities of the POC?