Dragon boat ideal for Philippine athletes

Since returning from a bountiful gold medal harvest in Tampa, Florida,  the Dragon Boat team has not had a moment’s rest. The PH paddlers have  been deluged with invitations for guest appearances,  interviews, welcome parties, and so many offers for endorsements have come their way they had to hire an agency to manage their business affairs.
“We’re not used to getting so much attention, we’re overwhelmed,” said PDBF president Marcia Cristobal, who was interviewed by some of the country’s leading sports columnists at Hermes Sports Bar on West Avenue the other night.
Upon their arrival last Friday,  Marcia had said that they were all going home to their families in a day, after they had paid a courtesy call on President Aquino, their sponsors and ABS-CBN, the television station that had documented their feat.
But the reunion with their families had to wait. The paddlers’ calendar of activities grew longer with each passing day.
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“We’ve been invited to TV shows such as Startalk and ASAP, which have nothing to do with sports and we obliged. We always oblige. We don’t allow success to go into our heads,” said Marcia.
The interview with Marcia covered so many areas, as the scribes  traced the early years of dragon boat, when the athletes literally had to make do with a  heavy and outmoded boat.
“The use of that ‘dinosaur’ boat turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because paddling became very easy when we finally used the lighter boats,” said Marcia.
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To competitors, winning five gold medals is a feat that is seldom achieved, according to Marcia.
“Paddlers from all over Asia and Europe have been scrutinizing us, our strategy—they want to know how we do it. They think we have a secret. Japan even sent a group to the Philippines to study our technique,” Marcia said.
But there was nothing they could learn from the Filipinos.
“Actually, it’s in our physique, in the length of our arms, in our size, in the proportion of our bodies. The Filipino size and physique is tailor-made for dragon boat racing,” said Marcia.
Incidentally, a congressional hearing on the dragon boat issue has been set this week.
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HOOPVINE: Ironically, the incident between coaches Ato Agustin of Petron and Chot Reyes of Talk ‘N Text happened after the customary handshake following Game 4 of the PBA Governors’ Cup title series as they were headed to their respective dugouts last Sunday. I was told by colleagues that  something Chot had said after the game got the goat of Ato, prompting the latter to challenge him to a fist fight. As the account went, Ato even had his arm around Chot when he delivered the challenge. The Talk ‘N Text coach did not accept it. Did Ato really call him “bakla” for  turning down the challenge?… PBA Legends headed by  Seattle-based Abe King, president and chair of PBA Legends Foundation USA, will play a game in Marawi against the team  of Gov. Mamintal Alonto on Sept. 2. The other legends who will team up with Abe are Atoy Co, Bogs Adornado, Bong Hawkins, Nelson Asaytono, Alvin Patrimonio, Ronnie Magsanoc, EJ Feihl, Ed Cordero, Johnedel Cardel, and Bobby Jose… Six minus one equals 5 plus three equals 8 teams in the ABL. That, according to Mikee Romero,  who’s been very busy getting his feet wet as PNSA president, is the latest equation in the Asean Basketball League.