43-member ‘other’ dragon boat squad for SEA Games

MANILA—The Philippine contingent to the Southeast Asian Games will have to sink or swim with the “other” dragon boat team.

No member of the Cobra Philippine Dragon Boat Federation paddlers who won five gold medals and two silvers in the World Championships in Tampa Bay, Florida, last August, is in the biggest Filipino contingent of 43 athletes for the coming SEAG in Indonesia set Nov. 11 to 25.

The SEAG-bound squad was formed by the Philippine Canoe/Kayak Federation  after the PDBF was stripped of National Sports Assocation status by the POC for refusing to be integrated in the canoe-kayak body as required by the International Olympic Committee last March.

The PSC tried to forge a compromise with the PDBF  but the association maintained that it should be reinstated in the POC as a separate NSA first.

Still, PDBF president Marcia Cristobal wished well the SEAG-bound team which include some members of the two previous PDBF squads in the World Championships where the country won three golds.

Cristobal stressed that the dragon boat competitions, to be held at Lake Cipule in Jakarta, will be run by the Southeast Asian Dragon Boat Association, of which the PDBF is a founding member.

All told, the national delegation delegation will have 500 members including officials according to Romeo Magat, co-deputy chief of mission.

The joint working committee of the POC and Philippine Sports Commission still have to name the athletes pending the final approval of the POC executive board.

The country swept all six dragon boat gold medals at stake during the 2005 SEA Games held at the La Mesa reservoir then placed second to Myanmar in three finals in 2007.

Basketball has the second biggest number of participants with 34. The country is fielding teams in men’s and women’s competition.

Represented by Smart Gilas, the country is deemed unbeatable in the SEAG after finishing a strong fourth in the recent Fiba-Asian in Wuhan, China.

The women’s team is the reigning SEA champions after beating Thailand last year at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The SEAG committee is also set to approve 22 athletes and five coaches in track and field. Veterans Marestella Torres and Henry Dagmil expected to head the team, which amassed eight golds in 2005, nine in 2007, and seven in the 2009 edition held in Laos.