Team China bag four golds at dragon boat World Cup in Chongqing

Team China bagged four gold and one silver medals at the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) World Cup in Chongqing this weekend, maintaining their dominance in the increasingly global sport.

After Saturday’s wins in the 200- and 100-meter races, China conceded the 1,000-meter team pursuit to Canada racing in Hechuan district of Southwest China’s municipality.

Yu Hanqiao, secretary-general of the Chinese Dragon Boat Association, said it was not a bad thing for China that others have emerged to take gold.

“We have to watch the sport with a wider view,” Yu said.

“If we were always dominating the sport, the dragon boat race wouldn’t see so many participants.”

Canada, Thailand and Russia made it onto the podiums as China failed to make a clean sweep of all medals.

China remains a team “the world has to defeat,” according to IDBF President Michael Thomas, and the popularity of the sport is rising.

At the Asian Games held in Jakarta earlier this year, China claimed two gold medals out of five competitions: in men’s and women’s 200 meters.

China’s national team squad for the World Cup consists of 2017 national dragon boat race men’s champions Shunde and women’s champions Jiujiang, both based in South China’s Guangdong Province.

Many of the dragon boat racers from outside of China specialize in other water sports like canoeing whereas the Chinese racers’ No.1 sport is dragon boat.

The biannual World Cup, which is competed among the world’s top 12 teams, is the second major competition under the IDBF after the World Championships.

A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originated from China.

The crew of a standard dragon boat is typically 22, consisting of 20 rowers in pairs facing toward the bow of the boat, a drummer at the bow facing toward the rowers and a talisman standing at the rear.

At the World Cup races, the shortdistance event features standard dragon boats while long-distance races – 400-meter team relay and 1,000-meter team pursuit – use smaller boats with 10 rowers.