Little International Flavour to Dragon Boat Races

Little international flavour to dragon boat races The 'poorly organised' event draws only three overseas teams and few spectators Helen Wu With only three overseas teams competing in this year's international dragon boat races, the event attracted few spectators and was criticised by some paddlers for being poorly organised. The event took place on Shing Mun River in Sha Tin yesterday. About 100 teams took part, mostly from Hong Kong and the mainland. Only one European team, the Liechtenstein Princely Navy, and two combinations from the Philippines and Taiwan, competed as international teams. The river bank was crowded with competitors, rather than spectators. But Mike Chung Chi-hung, president of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association, the organiser of the event, disagreed that the standard of this year's races had been affected by the absence of more international teams. "The teams from the mainland are of a very high standard," he said. He would not estimate the number of spectators. Two teams from Sai Kung criticised the event as being "hastily and poorly organised", and their representatives protested angrily after the event, demanding explanations from Mr Chung. Cho Hin-ho, a paddler on the Dragon Challengers team - which finished third in one of the races - said the events were held at low tide, which meant some boats had paddled in lanes of very shallow water, while others were in deeper water. Shallow water creates drag that invariably slows a boat down. "The water was deeper near the bank and its water resistance was far weaker than at the centre. [The organiser] should have known this in advance, and picked another day," he said. The Post noticed that many of the teams in deeper water did well. Jacky Cheung Yik-leung, chairman of the Sai Kung dragon boat organising committee, also complained that the organiser was incompetent, after it delayed the presentation of the cup and trophies to his women's team, Smart Concept Craft, until tomorrow without a reasonable explanation. "The women's team competed on Saturday and they should have presented the cup to us today [Sunday]," he said. Mr Chung said they had had no choice but to proceed with the event despite the low tide, because of tight scheduling. He promised to present the cup and trophies today. Editorial - A12 Tianjin Industrial University women's team warms up before the races.