It started out as a frantic search for an ancient Chinese poet who committed suicide by plunging into a river. About 2,300 years later, dragon boat racing is a full-fledged international sport making its debut as a medal event at the fourth East Asian Games in Macau.
A dragon boat is a narrow vessel similar to a rowing boat, but it's decorated with some Oriental flair. At the East Asian Games, the racing craft are styled with green dragon heads featuring whiskers, golden scales and brown horns, as well as a tail.
The technique is similar to canoeing -- the paddlers plunge their paddles downwards, as opposed to horizontally as in the case of rowing.
Like rowing, speed hinges on uniformity of strokes. But dragon boat racing relies mainly on upper body strength while rowing is driven by the lower body, Taiwan's men's coach Liu Te-chih explained on the sidelines of the first day of competition yesterday.
Explosiveness is key. In Macau, athletes are competing over 250m and 500m courses.
Macau competitor Jose Gonzun, a personal fitness trainer, said the paddling is highly intense. "Suddenly, your heart rate, boom!" said Gonzun, a Pampanga, Philippines native who moved to Macau.
The roots of dragon boat racing are in ancient China. When disillusioned poet Qu Yuan jumped into a river, people raced to the site in boats to search for him. They made loud sounds to scare away fish and dropped rice dumplings into the water to lure them away from Qu's body. Now the Chinese mark the anniversary of Qu's death by racing dragon boats and eating dumplings.
And there's another legacy dating back to the original event, making dragon boat racing one of the only sports with a built-in cheerleader.
Each team includes a drummer, although now the drummer's role is to keep the crew in rhythm, not startle fish.
The sport of dragon boat racing has gone global. The International Dragon Boat Federation, or IDBF, was founded in 1991 and hosts world championships on odd-numbered years and club world championships on even years.
The world championships took place in Berlin, Germany in August and will be next held in 2007 in Sydney, Australia.
Canada and Russia are among the top men's teams, and there are more paddlers in Europe than in Asia, according to Li Jie, head of the Chinese dragon boat racing federation.
The sport has gone high tech too, with carbon fiber paddles, which are better for stabilizing the boat, replacing wooden ones, Taiwanese coach Liu said.
Still, dragon boat racing has an amateur flavor. While some teams draw from canoe athletes, China's East Asian Games team comprises mainly farmers and manual workers. Li said dragon boat racing is popular in China's rural areas.
On the Net:
International Dragon Boat Federation: www.idbf.org
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set