Filipino rowers Joanie Delgaco and Edgar Ilas will be competing against the best in the world next month after ruling the coastal mixed double sculls event of the Asian Rowing Beach Sprint Championships over host Thailand recently.
The victory meant qualifying for the World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia, next month, where Delgaco and Ilas will be joined by surfing ace Jay-R Esquivel.
A long-time national team member, the 34-year-old Ilas pocketed a silver medal at the 2018 Asia Cup while the 25-year-old Delgaco had two bronze medals in the Southeast Asia Games last year apart from a third-place performance in the 2016 Asian Rowing Championships.
Besides the victory of Delgaco and Ilas, Filipino rowers brought home another gold medal courtesy of Tokyo Olympian Cris Nievarez and Zuriel Sumintac in the coastal men’s doubles after defeating South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
That event, however, is not a qualifier for the World Beach Games along with the coastal women’s double sculls where Amelyn Pagulayan and Kristine Paraon placed third in the race topped by Indonesia and Thailand.
With the Bali meet so far their biggest tournament, Delgaco and Ilas attempt to make a name for themselves on the global stage like Esquivel, who qualified in the longboard individual event.
Esquivel’s fourth-place effort at the recent International Surfing Association World Longboard Championships in Surf City, El Salvador, behind gold medalist Antoine Delpero of France, Brazil’s Carlos Bahia and bronze medalist Edouard Delpero of France helped tow the Philippines to fourth place overall.