PWDs to show force in Cebu dragon boat race

Paddlers from the Philippine Accessibility Disability Services Inc. (PADS) will compete in the upcoming Cebu Dragon Boat Fiesta 2017 on April 28 to 30 at the Cebu Yacht Club in Lapu-Lapu City.

More than 40 teams are expected in the race, including PADS which will vie in the 500-meter open race.

“We are very thankful because they saw that paddling can still be adapted to us PWDs,” PADS team captain Arnold Balais said during the event’s press conference yesterday at the Active Zone in Ayala Center Cebu. “Many see that PWDs have potential in the sport of dragon boat.”

PADS, which has around 20 members are also preparing for a dragon boat race in Hong Kong in June and are looking to recruit more to join their team. They have members who are blind, deaf mute and have orthopedic handicaps.

Balais, who uses one artificial leg, said that being on a boat brings a different kind of excitement- not just to him but also to his teammates.

“We forget our disability when we are on the boat,” said Balais, “We paddle until we go crazy,”
Biggest race in Vis-Min

“We have local teams in Cebu, visitors from Manila, and other parts of Visayas and Mindanao. If all the teams will be there on race day, we can beat the 33 teams that competed in Palawan,” said Nonnie Lopez, the event’s head organizer.

Lopez said that nine teams from Mindanao will compete while eight to nine squads from Visayas are already close to confirmation. Teams from the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, and Nigeria will also join the three-day race.

Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Board Member and Cebu Provincial Sports Commission’s Tining Martinez expressed happiness over the sport’s steady growth in Cebu.

“It’s good to see that there are a lot of local teams now. When we started, there were only two teams, now there are 10 or 11,” Martinez said .
Gruppo Habagat, Cebu Fire Blades, and Kugtong EXR are among the Cebu-based teams vying in the meet.