The Philippines won two more golds Sunday to raise its haul to 11 in the 2024 International Canoe Federation (ICF) Dragon Boat World Championships here.
The Filipino paddlers finished the 40+ mixed 20-seater 500-meter race in 2:06.34, claiming victory over the Singaporeans (2:06.73) and Germans (2:07.98).
In the women’s 20-seater 2000m event which only had two entries, the Philippines (10:42.31) beat Canada (10:48.64).
The Filipinos are assured of the overall title in the 27-nation field.
As early as Friday when they snared eight gold medals, they already surpassed their 5-1-2 finish in the 2018 edition held in Gainesville, Georgia.
Second-running Thailand has eight golds, Individual Neutral Athletes (Russians and Belarusians) with 6-3-3 and Ukraine with 5-0-1.
Canada, Hungary and Iran have four gold medals each, while Czech Republic and Poland have two apiece.
The Philippines’ nine other gold medals here came from the 20-seater Open 200m, 20-seater Women 200m, 20-seater Open 500m, 20-seater Women 500m, 20-seater Mixed 200m and 10-seater Mixed 200m in the 40+ age category; 10-seater Mixed 200m in the junior category; 20-seater Mixed 200m; and 10-seater Women 200m in the 50+ category.
The Filipinos also collected 20 silvers and seven bronzes in the first three days of the tournament organized by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragon Boat Federation in cooperation with the Puerto Princesa city government.
Meanwhile, the Philippines placed fifth in the mixed 200-meter small boat race Saturday, the second of three events to determine the top nine countries earning slots at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China.
On Friday, the Filipinos were 10th in the 2,000m race. The 500m race was scheduled Sunday, the final day of the tournament.
Teams with the highest overall points across all three events will qualify.
Indonesia and Thailand have secured the first two slots during the World Cup held Oct. 24 to 27 in Yichang, China, while China also qualified as host country. (PNA)
