The dragon boat teams of Guangdong and Guizhou each won two first prizes of men and women's races, respectively, at the 12th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities in Sanya, a coastal city in south China's island province of Hainan, on Sunday.
The Guangdong men's team and the Guizhou women's team both prevailed in the two events of standard dragon boat and small dragon boat in 200-meter straight races for men and women.
The Guangdong team fiercely competed with the rowers of Guizhou, Fujian, and Hubei to win the first prize in the standard dragon boat final with 40.686 seconds.
"I feel the final today was quite intense. The teams of Guizhou and Fujian are rather tough competitors and we indeed felt the pressure when rowing. Finally, we won the game despite the pressure, which is indeed not easy," said Zeng Delin, a member of the Guangdong Men's Dragon Boat Team.
In the following final race of small dragon boat, the team's12 top players also did well and won the game.
In women's group, the Guizhou Women's Dragon Boat Team outperformed strong competitors to win both the standard and small dragon boat finals.
"At the beginning of the race, all our players were very nervous. In the process of the race, the competition was really tight. When we were approaching the final line, we made our greatest efforts, and we made it finally," said Luo Xingying, member of the Guizhou Women's Dragon Boat Team.
The 12th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of China opened last Friday night in Sanya. Nearly 7,000 athletes representing 35 delegations across China will compete in 18 sports and 170 demonstration sports during the nine-day event, which will conclude on November 30.
Beginning with less than 400 athletes from 13 ethnic groups, the event was first launched in 1953 with only eight sports. It's one of China's oldest national multisport games.
Guangdong, Guizhou win dragon boat races of National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities
