PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines – Philippine paddlers struck a gold mine in the second day of the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships Friday, carting away with four golds plus a silver and a bronze at the world-class course overlooking the Puerto Princesa Baywalk here. Under an overcast sky but racing over calm waters early in the morning, the hosts achieved their golden breakthrough off the bat in a wire-to-wire finish in the standard boat mixed 200-meter finals in a time of 47.07 seconds. They won the race by two meters, holding off the late charge of the Canada (48.69) and the Individual Neutral Athlete squad composed of Russian athletes (49.03), which came in second and, respectively, in the competition backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Tingog party-list.

Their splashing outing triggered a deluge of triumphs, with the PH women's masters squad quickly following it up in securing the mint in the 40+ 200-meter event in time of 49.41 seconds, edging Czechoslovakia (50.84) and Hungary (52.12).