PHL Dragon Boat paddlers strike gold in Florida

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV The Philippine Dragon Boat team struck gold in the 10th International Dragon Boat Racing Championship in Tampa, Florida, when it topped the 1000-meter small boat event of the biennial competition. The Pinoy Dragon Warriors won their first medal on the second day of the tournament in record-breaking fashion posting a time of four minutes and 57.13 seconds. The Dragon Boat paddlers first won the men's 200-meter gold with a record time of 42.16 seconds in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. The team successfully defended its world title in the 2009 edition in Prague, Czech Republic with another record-breaking performance (40.02 seconds). Two thousand paddlers from 17 countries are competing at this year's event, happening from Wednesday till Monday. The Philippines will be up against countries like Singapore, Australia, Germany, Hungary, Brazil and defending champions China. Events to be contested are 200-, 500-, 1,000- and 2,000-meter races. On Friday night (Philippine time), the Filipinos will compete in the Premier Mixed 200m Small Boat event against Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. On Saturday morning, the team will compete against Japan, Australia, Italy, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago at the Premier Open 200m Small Boat event. Come Saturday night, it will compete at the Premiere Mixed 500m event against Trinidad and Tobago and Puerto Rico. - JVP, GMA News