Boracay Dragons takes silver in Italy world frisbee tilt
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

For the second time, the Boracay Dragons won a silver medal in the prestigious 3rd World Championships of Beach Ultimate at Lignano Sabbiadoro in Italy on Sunday.

Slated from August 21 to 28 at the Getur Beach Sports Complex in northern Italy, the biggest world frisbee championships attracted 73 teams and more than 1,100 athletes from 31 countries across five continents. The frisbee tournament, held every four years, has six divisions: Open, Mixed, Women, Masters, Mixed Masters and Grand Masters.
Boracay Dragons frisbee team bowed to United States, 13-9, in a highly spirited game of the Open Division finals of the world tournament to clinch the silver medal.
In the 2nd World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Brazil in 2007, the Boracay Dragons also placed second against Italy.
Before the championship match against the United States, the Boracay Dragons edged Canada, 10-9, in the quarterfinals before thrashing defending champion Italy in the semifinals, 13-4. For third place, Switzerland defeated Italy, 12-6.
The Boracay Dragons line-up is composed of the following players: Benjamin Yap, Boboy Famorcan, Clyde Sullano, Datu Sumndad, Hendrix Maming, James Yap, Jason Lopez, Jeffrey Rodriguez, Joebert Buenaventura, Jude Lee, Karen Cabrera, Kristian Guerrero, Panoy delos Santos and Wendell Simbulan.

In the eliminations, the Boracay Dragons lost its first game to Italy, 12-9, but, the Philippine team came back strong in its succeeding games against India (13-3), Ireland (13-3), Germany (11-9) and Currier Island (13-4).

The Boracay Dragons suffered its second defeat against United States, 11-8, in its sixth game, however, it scored twin victories against Belgium (12-8) and France (10-6) to gain an outright quarterfinals seat.

Back home, the Boracay Dragons, considered the “Beach Kings of Asia,” is the eight-time defending champion of Boracay Open from 2004 to 2011 and the champion of the 1st Asian Championships of Beach Ultimate in 2009 held in Boracay Island.

The Boracay Dragons also captured the gold medal in the Singapore Beach Ultimate Tournament in Sentosa, Singapore in 2008.

Beach Ultimate is a fast-paced flying disc team sport practiced by men and women of all ages. The teams consist of 5 players on the field and 5-10 additional players on the sideline.