MANILA -- The Philippines emerged as the overall champion of the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships, Sunday morning at the course overlooking the Puerto Princesa Baywalk.

The Filipino paddlers delivered two more gold medals, five silvers, and two bronzes, taking their final tally to 11 golds, 20 silvers, and 16 bronzes.

Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand took runner-up honors with eight golds while the AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete) squad was third with a haul of six golds, three silvers and three bronzes.

READ: Team PH wins more medals in ICF World Dragon Boat meet

READ: PH nabs 2 silvers, 4 bronzes at ICF Dragon Boat World Championships

The Philippine team celebrates after bagging the overall title in the just-concluded ICF World Dragon Boat Championships with host Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron (center) receiving the trophy. Handout/PH Dragon Boat MediaThe hosts won a hotly-contested masters mixed 20-seater standard boat 500-meter race in two minutes and 6.34 seconds, nosing out Singapore (2:06.73) while Germany was not too far behind in third (2:07.98) in the competition organized by the Philippine Canoe Kayak Dragon Boat Federation.

The Filipinos were also runaway winners in the 40+ 20-seater women’s 2,000-meter standard boat event (10:42.31) over runner-up Canada (10:48.64) while had silvers in the 20-seater mixed standard boat 500-meter  (1:58.13), 40+ 10-seater mixed 500-meter (2:19.45), 20-seater open (9:23.16) and 40+ 20-seater open 5,000-meter (9:34.47) races.

But the 20-seater mixed standard 500-meters was most thrilling by far among the contests as the hosts virtually led from start to finish until they were beaten in the last 10 meters by the hard-charging Ukrainians, who snatched the gold in a time of 1:57.51.    

They also bagged the last  bronze of the day in the  40+ 10-seater open 500-meter (2:15.93) event in the four-day tournament also supported by the Puerto Princesa City government led by Mayor Lucilo Bayron, the Philippines Sports Commission and Lacoste watches. 

"We made history practically everyday, so I am very proud of our national paddlers and  how we organized this big event sanctioned by the International Canoe Federation," said PCKDF president Leonora "Lenlen" Escollante. 

"I am very glad that our staging of this world championships yielded the main goal that our national team was aiming for by  clinching the overall title right here on our shores at that," she added. "This honor is not only for the PCKF, our paddlers but also for the  country."

ICF Dragon Boat Commission chairman  Dr. Wai Hung-Luk of Hong Kong called the event "world-class."

"All we got was positive feedback from the countries who took part in the ICF Dragon Boat World Championships," he said. "The participants were also impressed by the warm hospitality shown … and expressed their desire to come back again here."

The next staging of the biennial global dragon boat competition will be held in Regina, Canada in 2026.