PUERTO PRINCESA. – Keenly aware of the stakes involved, national dragon boat skipper OJ Fuentes and national coach Duchess Princes Co expressed confidence that Pinoy paddlers have what it takes to secure a top 10 finish in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships and book a ticket to the World Games next year in Chengdu, China.
“We are prepared to make it to the top 10. Matagal na po naming napaghandaan ito at alam ng national paddlers lahat kung ano ang nakataya,” Fuentes, 26, who has been a mainstay of the squad since the 2011 Indonesia Southeast Asian Games, said on the eve of the tournament’s start here.
“These paddlers are ready under all types of conditions. And while I would not like to predict how many medals we will
get, I am confident we will make it to the top 10 of the mixed team event and qualify for the World Games,” echoed national coach and former national standout Co.
The cumulative times of the top 10 teams in the 200-meter, 500-meter and 2,000-meter races in the 10-seater mixed team event will qualify for the World Games where dragon boat will make its debut as a medal sport.
On top of sealing a ticket to the World Games, the Filipino bets are also out to surpass their five gold and two silver medals that powered them to the overall title the last time they saw action in the 2018 edition in Gainesville, Georgia.
Officials of the sanctioning International Canoe Federation were impressed by the organization of the grand global paddling event hosted by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragon Boat Federation and the Puerto Princesa City government led by Mayor Lucilo Bayron.
“Puerto Princesa is one of the cleanest cities in the world so we have a unique site for the world championships where we can write history here together,” noted ICF president Thomas Konietzko of Germany during the press launch on Wednesday.
“Let us together write history in the next four days which I am sure will take a lot of good memories in this beautiful city of Puerto Princesa,” added Konietzko of the meet serving as a major highlight of the world body’s centennial anniversary in the briefing sponsored by La Coste watches.
“We are thrilled to host the dragon boat world championships here. It is an honor to welcome the world’s best paddling athletes, coaches and supporters to our shores where we hope that the spirit of unity and sportsmanship can thrive,” said Mayor Bayron.
“I understand that this competition is record-breaking in terms of the number of countries and athletes taking part so we would like to thank the ICF for trusting us with this huge international dragon boat event,” he added.
Hong Kong’s Dr. Wai-hung Luk, head of the ICF Dragon Boat Commission, inspected the course Wednesday and noted that “it comes up to the world standard of our races. We can expect some exciting action in the coming days.”
“With the support of president Thomas, Dr. Wai and Mayor Bayron, hosting this record-breaking event would not be possible,” stressed PCKDBF president Leonora “Lenlen” Escollante of the once-in-a-lifetime championships to be staged in Southeast Asia for the first time.