Egypt's Nile River hosts int'l dragon boat festival to celebrate Chinese New Year

As the dragon boats ran in the river and approached the finishing point near the club, with paddlers on both sides, a drummer in the front and a steersperson in the back of each boat, amid cheers of spectators who waved the flags of their countries, the Egyptian and Philippine teams were the winners of most rounds, garnering most of the gold medals and trophies.

"This event doesn't only bring the Egyptian and Chinese people together, it also boosts friendship of several nations as we have here competitors from the US, Singapore, the Philippines, Macao and others," Sayyid Gomaa, the coach and paddler of Dragon Boat Egypt, told Xinhua after a winning round.

While the Egyptian teams finished first in the races of 12-male-paddler small boats, 22-male-paddler standard boats and 12-mixed-paddler small boats, the Philippine teams won those of 12-female-paddler small boats, 12-mixed-paddler small boats and 22-mixed-paddler standard boats.

"We have more than 20 paddlers in the Philippine team. We lost the first round because we had a hard time in the inside lane as the water was too hard to move the boat, but we're sure to achieve the first place in the women's race," said Marcia Cristobal, team manager of Philippine Alliance and also former president of the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation.