POC to look into dragon boat paddlers’ complaint

OLYMPIC chief Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. yesterday formed an arbitration committee to look into the complaint of some Philippine dragon boat team members against the top officials of their national sport association, the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation.

Cojuangco talked to the national paddlers Monday night and advised them to write a formal complaint to the Philippine Olympic Committee detailing their allegations.

POC officials refused to discuss the complaint but a reliable source said it has something to do with the paddlers’ desire to compete in the 11th World Dragon Boat Racing Championship in Szeged, Hungary, on July 23-28.

Organized by the International Dragon Boat Federation, it is the same tournament where a group of paddlers won gold medals in 2011 in Tampa Bay, Florida. The paddlers were members of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation, who bolted from  the POC.

Some of them, however, decided to join the national team handled by the PCKF and brought home medals from international events. Last week, the paddlers from the PDBF suddenly went up in arms against their coach, Len Escollante.

“I’ll wait for the formal complaint and answer the accusations in detail,” Escollante told the Inquirer.

As a result, the daily training of the team bound for the Burma Southeast Asian Games has been stopped.