Manila-based SAG-1 DragonBoat Team bagged 2 overall championships and 6 gold medals in complete domination of the 4th Guam Thanksgiving Day Dragon Boat Festival in the United States.
The Philippine team completely overpowered other international dragon boat teams from Guam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, sweeping all 6 competitions they joined and emerging with overall championship titles for the 200m and 400m divisions at the Guam festival held November 23 to 24.
SAG-1, a moniker for “sagwan” the Filipino term for “paddle”, swept all the events in the 200 and 400-meter distance races.
The Manila DragonBoat mixed team emerged on top of the (22-seater) 200m and 400m standard category events clocking at 2:02.46 and 4:41.27, respectively.
The Philippine mixed team also claimed victory in the 200m and 400m open small boat (12 seaters) category events finishing with 1:02.03 and 2:20.32, respectively.
The SAG-1 team of Filipina paddlers also showed their mettle as they grabbed the top spots in the women’s division of the 200m and 400m small boat (12-seater) category events crossing the line at 2:25.54 and 5:50.04, respectively.
“We were overwhelmed with the results, but I also believe that the two months of hard training by the team led us to victory,” said SAG-1 team captain Michael Lara in a press release.
“We are not just a club team once we join an international event. Every stroke of our paddles is dedicated to the Philippines. We are grateful to represent our country in international competitions such as this one,” Philippines’ SAG-1 Dragon Boat team coach Ric Nacional added.
The SAG-1 paddlers are scheduled to compete at the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Dragonboat Federation (PCKDF) Club Crew Challenge Series 4 on December 15 in Malawaan Park, Subic after the 30th Southeast Asian Games hosted by the Philippines from November 30 to December 11.
Philippine dragon boat teams have been winning international competitions with the more recent victories won at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Thailand and at the International DragonBoat Tournament in Beijing.
The Philippine ParaDragonBoat Team had also recently established a world record in Thailand.
SEND congratulations in the comments below to SAG-1 DragonBoat Team for raising the Philippine flag in Guam!
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