PH dragon boat, bowling teams miss podium
PALEMBANG, Indonesia – Not known for its long-distance prowess, the Philippine men’s rowing team unexpectedly reached the finals of the 1,000-meter race to finish sixth and last at the close of the 2018 Asian Games dragon boat championships at the Jakabaring Sport City Canoeing and Rowing Regatta Course on Monday, August 27.
Ranged against taller and more beefy rivals, the Filipino paddlers struggled into the finish line among the six finalists in four minutes and 43.641 seconds in the event handily won by the Taiwanese, who took the gold in 4:31.85.
Traditional Southeast Asian powerhouse and host Indonesia bagged the silver (4:34.97) while Korea settled for bronze (4:36.59) at the windup of the event that drew 15 countries from all over Asia.
“Totally unexpected kami na makakapasok sa finals kasi long distance ito. We need that kind of strength and endurance. Kaya happy na kami sa resulta,” said coach Lenlen Escollante of the performance of the game but inexperienced Pinoy bets, who were all making their Asian Games debuts.
(Totally unexpected for us to reach the finals because this was a long-distance competition. We need that kind of strength and endurance. But we're happy with the results.)
“We need our paddlers to bulk up and gain more experience if we want to be competitive in the long distances,” added Escollante of young team whose average is from 19 to 23 years old.
If there was any consolation, the coach said, “is the fact that we were able to best Myanmar, which is a strong dragon boat team in Southeast Asia. Malaking bagay na matalo natin sila dito at makapasok kami sa finals.”
(It's a big factor that we're able to beat Myanmar's strong dragon boat team and reach the finals.)
The Filipinos accomplished this in the second semis heat, holding off the surging Burmese in the last 50 meters in clinching the third and last finals slot in the heat in a time of 4:42.951, a mere two-tenths of a second faster than the latter’s 4:43.05.
Bowlers bow out
The Filipinos left the bowling competitions also without a medal as they flunked in the men’s and ladies masters at the close of the event at the Jakabaring Sport City Bowling Center.
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games silver medalist Alexis Sy emerged as the best campaigner by finishing seventh after the eight-game second block, tallying an 18-game series of 3744 and a 228.06 average.
Sy finished 204 pins behind Japan’s Ishimoto Mirai, who bowled 3948-238.63, for the No. 1 spot.
South Koreans Lee Nahyong (3854-235.25) and Lee Yeonji (3847-234.19) finished second and third, respectively, to complete the cast in the stepladder finals scheduled later in the day.
The bespectacled Sy opened the second eight-game series strongly with a 242 but a pair of sub-200 games in the ninth (194) and 12th games (193) stymied her bid in advancing to the medal round as she completed her last four games with lines of 256, 255, 245 and 221, respectively.
Teammate Lara Posadas placed 12th overall among the 16 masters qualifiers (3593-219.88).
Waxing hot in the first four games in the second session, southpaw Enzo Hernandez cooled off in the stretch and wound up in the ninth spot (3758-230.0), 237 pins off Malaysian No. 1 Muhammad Rafiq Ismail (3995-242.19), the men’s masters qualifiers.
The other Pinoy bowler, Kenneth Chua, placed 16th and last (3550-217.50) in the group.
Mirroring the ladies masters elims, South Korea’s Koo Seonghoi (3980-243.13) and Park Jong Woo (3892-237.50) wound up 2-3, respectively. – Rappler.com
