ABS-CBN Rewards Philippine Dragon Boat Team with P1 Million

ABS-CBN bestowed P1 million to the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation (PDBF) Team when it gave a day-long hero’s welcome for the Filipino dragon boat champions.

ABS-CBN President and COO Charo Santos-Concio said the amount was a token of appreciation for the team’s “hard work, perseverance and for bringing honor to our country.”

PDBF President Marcia Cristobal, meanwhile, thanked the media’s coverage of the team, as it has sparked a wave of support for them from both private and government sectors.

She also said ABS-CBN’s donation will go a long way, as the team will save a part of the amount for expenses in future tournaments.

Tremendous media attention and roaring fans greeted the dragon boat paddlers since they arrived from Tampa Bay, Florida, where they won five gold medals and two silvers in the recently concluded International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships.

After being stripped of their title as a National Team and consequently of any financial assistance from the government, the team almost never made it to the world championships in Florida.

In an interview with ANC anchor Bill Velasco, PDBF coach and drummer Annabelle Tario said support from private sectors started pouring in after the July 14 airing of Dyan Castillejo’s report in “Krusada,” ABS-CBN’s advocacy journalism program.

In the documentary feature, the “Sports Unlimited” anchor chronicled the plight, sacrifice, and devotion to the sport in order to represent the country. Due to the lack of financial support from the government, the team would leave with packed canned goods to get them through each tournament. At times, they would even dive for mussels just so they could eat.

Through the P1 million grant, ABS-CBN hopes to help alleviate the champion paddlers’ woes as they continue bringing glory to the country. The network, meanwhile, will continue giving full support to Filipino athletes and sports in general, through its multiplatform coverage of the biggest sporting events on Channel 2, Studio 23, and Balls Skycable CH. 34.

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Video game dragon sends woman into labor

Bethesda

In "Skyrim," the dragons are so awe inspiring they'll give you contractions.

A lot of people are excited about the forthcoming medieval role-playing game "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim." But it seems none more so than expectant mom Stevi.

Stevi and her fiancé Chaz were attending the QuakeCon 2011 game conference in Dallas Friday and were among the packed crowd on hand to see the 40-minute demonstration of "Skyrim" (which launches Nov. 11.) That's when Stevi went into labor.

As Chaz told Game Informer:

During the demo Todd Howard (director for "Skyrim") showed off the Frost Dragon. This is what started the whole thing, seeing this must have filled Stevi with so much excitement that it sent her into labor.

As it turns out, the couple did not bolt for the hospital. Instead, they stayed on through the rest of the demonstration.

Yes, some know-it-alls have written in to Game Informer to criticize Stevi and Chaz' decision to stay. But Chaz has written in to explain that they stayed for the rest of the demo not only because Stevi loves Skyrim, but because they thought it could have been false labor.

By the way, that is not an unreasonable thing to think. Just because a woman goes into labor, doesn't mean the baby is going to pop out then and there. In fact, as of Sunday, Stevi was still in labor. The whole process was taking so long she had time to write in to Game Informer to explain to readers that her baby's due date is actually not until Sept. 10.

"I saw the frost dragon and had a contraction, been consistent ever since. We are now at 15 minutes apart and the pain is getting worse," she wrote on Sunday. But she also explained, "The doctor said this could take 'several hours or days even.'"

One thing is for sure, QuakeCon is proving to be one very important event for this couple. The two gamers got engaged last year at QuakeCon. Chaz proposed to Stevi onstage at the end of the show. The two had planned to get hitched at this year's QuakeCon ... but yeah, they got a little distracted.

Here's betting their daughter makes her first appearance at the show next year. Yes, they are having a girl and they've already picked a name for her: Atari Lynn.

Surprisingly, no, it seems she was not named after the game machine or game brand.

Explained the laboring mother: "The name Atari comes from the name Ataru which means 'to hit a target' and the word Atari is used when a prediction has come true or someone has won the lottery. Her first and middle name together mean 'To hit a target, from the lake'.

(Thanks to Game Informer for the heads up.)

For more game news, please see:

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+.  And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.

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Philippine Dragon Boat Team Bags 5 Gold, 2 Silver Medals at the 2011 Dragon Boat World Championships

The Philippine Dragon Boat team nabs their fifth gold medal on the final day of the 10th International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The Philippine Dragon Boat Team ended their campaign on Sunday with another gold medal win in the 500-meter men’s division small boat event in what Dyan Castillejo described as “precision paddling, they topped the race and took the gold medal while their opponents had nothing but praise for the Filipinos.”

The Philippine team won their fourth gold medal in the 500-meters mixed event in the small boat division beating powerhouse teams from Hungary and Trinidad and Tobago. Their third world title came from the Premier 1000m category (small boat) setting a new world record of 4:57.13 for the said event.

Earlier last week, the team also bagged 2 gold medals, one from the 200m Premier Mixed and one from the 1000m Men’s category.

Aside from the 5 gold medals, the team also won two silver medals, one in the premier 200-meter men’s division event on Saturday and another one from the All Comers 200m small boat event.

The gallant Philippine dragon boat team was denied funding by the Philippine Sports Commission. Their trip to the championships was supported by Lucio Tan’s Philippine Airlines as well as Asia Brewery’s Cobra Energy Drink.

Photo Credit: Ellen Tordesillas

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Philippine Dragon Boat Paddlers Bag 3rd Gold at the World Championships

The Philippine Dragon Boat team has just won their third world title at the 10th World Dragon Boat Championships by the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) in Tampa Bay, Florida last Friday.

The Philippine team splashed their way to win the gold medal in the Premier 1000m event (small boat) by clocking a new world record of 4:57.13 for the event.

Australia settled for the silver medal with a time of 5:00.09 and Hungary captured the bronze with 5:03.71.

This is the first time that the Philippine team has won in the 1000m Premier event, powered by just 10 paddlers. Their two gold medals at the 2009 World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic was for the 200m Premiere Mixed and 200m Premier Open categories.

Aside from the gold medal from the Premier 1000m event, the Philippine team earlier bagged the gold medal in 200m Premier Mixed and 1000m Men’s categories. They also bagged a silver medal in the premier 200-meter men’s division event on Saturday.

Photo Credit: Ellen Tordesillas

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