The festival brought together 7 international teams from Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, India, Vietnam and 2 teams of the host country – Malaysia. The seven teams have competed in the 1,000-meter-discipline for Men’s team (including 1 drummer, 1 boat-steerer and 16 rowers). All 9 teams drew lots for 3 tables of qualifying rounds. The final round includes 3 best teams and the left 6 teams will compete for the ranking from 4 to 9.
During two days of competitions (from March 24-25), the Vietnam’s Binh Thuan team with 24 athletes has excellently outdone and beat the Brunei and Thailand teams at the qualifying round and defeated the India and China teams at the semifinal round for a ticket to come with the final round.
Three best outstanding teams including Brunei, Philippines and Vietnam were present at the final round taking place on March 26th 2016. The festival is held annually to beef up the image of Kedah – the greatest rice field of Malaysia, and to tighten the friendship and relationship among the participant countries, promoting the development of dragon boat racing festival at the host locality.
My Thien (Source: Binh Thuan Online)