Indonesia won the first-ever gold medal in Dragon Boat as the discipline made its debut on the official sports programme at The World Games Chengdu 2025.
All eyes were on the open eight-seater 2000m final, and paddlers from the island nation put on a dominant performance to take the title.
They crossed the finish line in 9:08.12, 11.10 faster than second-placed China.
The battle for bronze was between Ukraine and Spain, with the latter claiming it in 9:23.75.
Victory for Indonesia was no surprise, as they were among the first nations to qualify for The World Games 2025.
They put on superb displays at the 2024 International Canoe Federation Dragon Boat World Cup in Yichang, China and the 2024 ICF Dragon Boat World Championships in Puerto Princesa, the Philippines.
Now, they have managed to back it up on the grand stage and are making history in the process.
“We are very happy to win the first medal in this competition. I hope we will be able to add to the success. We have been training for three years” Indonesian coach Mohammed Suryadi said.
“After the qualifying races in China and the Philippines last year, the crew has been preparing for Chengdu since January. So it feels great.
“We are a bit tired physically, but we need to keep our spirits up for the races tomorrow.
“This is an exciting sport, and it’s great to see it at The World Games. We hope this can be an Olympic sport someday.”
Earlier in the day, Chinese Taipei dominated the open eight-seater 200m and mixed 10-seater 200m events, qualifying as the fastest team.
They clocked 48.59 in the former and 49.53 in the latter, with Ukraine being the only non-Asian country to qualify for the final.
In the open eight-seater 500m semi-finals, the Hungarians were unstoppable, timing 2:07.43.
Indonesia finished first in the mixed 10-seater 500m semi-finals in 2:06.66, pipping the Hungarians by 1.27.
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