The Philippine Online Chronicles

Members of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF), including the Dragon Warriors, have maintained that they would rather have National Sports Association (NSA) status than a slot in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games).

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) earlier stripped the PDBF, mother association of the Dragon Warriors, of its NSA status, preventing the team from officially representing the country in international competitons.

Both the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) are currently attempting to subsume the country's dragon boat teams under the Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation (PCKF), which has been designated by POC to represent the country in the upcoming SEA Games in Indonesia.

Yesterday the team's officials skipped the House meeting intended to settle the issue between the PDBF and the PCKF.

PDBF chief Marcia Cristobal told the Philippine Star, “There was no clear agenda. I was told early morning by a staff of [PSC] chairman [Richie] Garcia that it was all about the SEA Games. But the issue that we're actually bringing out is really the reinstatement of the PDBF as an NSA.”

The Dragon Warriors recently won five gold medals and two silvers at the International Dragon Boat Federation Championship in the US.

Meanwhile, the PCKF has begun a program to create its own team to compete in the SEA Games.

“Since the group was here, we just discussed what will happen with the SEA Games (dragon boat team). Canoe-kayak said they will maintain their program to form a team for the SEAG from their pool,” said Garcia.

In response, Cristobal said that, “We would want to let the athletes training from the PCKF compete in the SEAG since their minds are already focused on it.”

“We don't want to hurt feelings. Bottomline is, they're Filipinos, we'll still be cheering for them,” Cristobal said.