RP paddlers nearing Asiad standards

WITH their recent performances nearing Asian standards, both the men’s and women’s dragon boat teams are almost a cinch to make it to the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

National head coach Nestor Ilagan said the Philippine men’s and women’s paddlers posted impressive clockings in the tournaments they joined in Taiwan, Macau and mainland China recenlty.
“Malapit na. Pati sa winning time, malapit. And this is based on historical record of times they established in the world championships held in Sydney and Prague since last year,” said Ilagan.
In Taiwan, the national men’s squad beat their Taiwanese foes for the gold with a clocking of one minute and 57.8 seconds in the 500-meter open category, just two seconds slower than the 1:55.575 they submitted in the 2009 World Championship, where they won the silver behind China.
The men’s squad also won the bronze medal behind Nanjai and Zhaoqing over in Macau with a time of 1:54.665.
Over in Zhaoqing, the Filipinos took the silver medal with a finish of 1:56.85, behind Guangdong, which won the title in 1:53.40.
The lady paddlers, meanwhile, won a silver and two bronze medals in the women’s 500-meter, 250-meter and the 1000-meter races respectively. Peter Atencio