PH paddlers seize six golds in world dragon boat meet

The Philippines stole the thunder from powerhouses Russia and the United States by nailing three gold medals Sunday in the Open category of the 200-meter events of the World Dragon Boat Championships organized by the International Canoe Federation in Milan.

The sensational effort boosted the Filipinos to top spot among the 14 countries with a total haul of six gold medals and one silver with only the 500-meter mixed 20 escaping from their clutches.

The Filipinos relegated Russia to second in all three races Sunday while the US, Germany and Poland settled for a bronze each.

Cheered on by a crowd of Overseas Filipino Workers based in Italy, the Filipinos opened their campaign with a victory in the 10-paddler, all-men race, clocking 50.07 seconds, ahead of Russia’s 51.12 and Poland’s 52.76.

A few hours later, the mixed 20 team of 12 men and eight women triumphed, registering a time of 44.486 to edge Russia (45.33) and Germany (46.13).

The Filipinos also ruled the mixed 10 race (six men, four women) in 52.42. Russia again placed second in 53.74.

The Filipinos’ other victories came in the 10 mixed, 500m; the 10-men 2,000m and the 10-men 500m. Their only silver came in the 20 mixed 500m race won by Russia. Cedelf P. Tupas