Dragonboat team to scout Asiad site

Source: Manila Bulletin
With the sport’s debut appearance at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the Philippine dragonboat team hopes to make a big impact the way it did at last year’s world championships in Prague, Czech Republic.

Dragonboat association chief Nestor Ilagan said his two teams, composed of 25 male and 25 female paddlers, have been training at the Manila Bay for the past months to gear up for the Asian Games slated November 12 to 27 in China.

“It’s going to be our first time competing in the Asian Games, so we’re preparing hard to make a good showing,” Ilagan said.

The men’s team defended its crown at the world championships in record-breaking fashion, ousting powerhouse squads China and the host country with a time of 40.02 seconds in the 200-meter premier open.

They also captured the mixed event gold by beating China and Macau.

Ilagan said the Asian Games competition is expected to be as tough as the world championships.

Ilagan said part of their training will be a trip to Guangzhou where they will look and try to test the venue to get a feel of the site.

“We’ll be requesting to the Philippine Sports Commission for this exposure so that our athletes will have a chance to get familiar with the venue,” Ilagan said.

“But I heard that the water current is flat, so we will also switch our training venue to La Mesa Dam three months before the Asian Games.”

The men’s team will also be sent to a tournament in Thailand and the women’s team to Singapore in October.

The PSC has allocated P10 million to support the dragon boat athletes, including P2 million for exposure.

Teams will be competing in six events in the Asiad, and Ilagan said the local paddlers will have the best chances in the sprint and middle-distance events.

“We’re pinning our hopes on the 250m and 500m events,” Ilagan said.

Aside from China, Southeast Asian rivals Indonesia and Myanmar are also heavily favored in the meet, but Ilagan said the athletes are generally preparing for every participating countries.

The teams train at least three hours a day from Mondays to Fridays.