Tough criteria for ‘other’ PHL dragon boat team

MANILA—The dragon boat team picked by the canoe-kayak group will have to measure up to the performance of the Cobra PDBF paddlers if it wants to clinch a berth in the country’s delegation to the Southeast Asian Games.

SEA Games cluster head Dr. Ernest Jay Adalem stressed this Sunday, noting that the team from the Philippine Canoe/Kayak Federation will have more than 50 athletes in the men’s and women’s divisions.

“We need to have a decision because if they don’t stand a chance in the SEA Games, we can take away a big number of athletes in the contingent and effectively ease our budget concerns,” he said.

Adalem, who is also president of Naascu and technical director of the Philippine Handball Federation, said the PCKF is amenable to the suggestion of Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia to hold time trials based on the times submitted by the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation.

The Cobra PDBF team brought home five golds and two silvers from the recent World Championships in Tampa, Florida.

This means the PCKF team will have to turn in faster times than the PDBF’s four minutes, 59.79 seconds in the 1,000-meter premier open, 56.359 seconds in the 200m premier mixed, 2:23.535 in the 500m premier open, 53.418 seconds in the 200m premier open, and 2:28.789 in the 500m premier mixed.

“The next best thing to a race between the two teams is the time trial. I think they will both agree to undergo time trial,” said Adalem.

But Garcia said the time trial must be held in fresh water to simulate the conditions in Jakarta. The Cobra PDBF paddlers raced in brackish, salty water in Florida.

The Cobra PDBF team didn’t attend a meeting called by the PSC last week which was supposed to tackle a proposed merger with the PCKF squad.

PDBF president Marcia Cristobal said that they agreed to the meeting thinking that the agenda was about the  reinstatement of the dragon boat federation as national sports association.