"VAN" (Sports Desk - 28.04.2026) :: On the banks of the Sanya River, as paddles sliced the water to the relentless beat of drums, Claudio Schermi watched the 200-metre dragon boat finals. He had been present since the morning, alongside Fidel Ylli, the President of the Albanian Olympic Committee and his delegation. For the medal races, the Sanya 2026 Organising Committee delegation arrived, led by Gao Zhidan, Minister of the General Administration of Sport of China, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and President of SABGOC, accompanied by Liu Xiaoming, Governor of Hainan Province.
A SPORT SHAPED LIKE A DRAGON - To understand dragon boat, start with the boat itself. Each vessel is an ornate spectacle: a carved dragon's head at the bow, a tail at the stern, and a hull painted with scales. The paddles represent the creature's claws.
Every crew is built around three key figures. At the bow, a drummer faces the crew and pounds a drum to set the stroke cadence, establishing the rhythm that all must follow. At the stern, a steerer controls the boat with a long steering oar, maintaining course and issuing commands. Between them, 20 paddlers stroke in perfect unison, seated in pairs side by side. The smaller version, used here at the Asian Beach Games, carries 10 paddlers, plus drummer and steerer, in a 9-metre hull. Races are held over distances from 200 to 2,000 metres, with the Sanya programme featuring the 100-metre straight race - making its debut at this edition - alongside the 200 and 400 metres.
FROM QU YUAN TO THE IDBF: A 2,300-YEAR JOURNEY - The origin story is unlike any other in sport. In 278 BC, the poet and statesman Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River to protest the suffering of his people. Fishermen raced out, beating drums to ward off evil spirits - and a tradition was born. For centuries, it remained a cultural festival.
The modern sporting era began in the late 1970s, when British authorities in Hong Kong turned the ritual into an organised competition. Boats soon arrived in Europe. "They were given to Italian rowing clubs," Schermi recalled. The European Dragon Boat Federation was founded on 5 May 1990, with Italy among the members. A year later, on 24 June 1991, the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) was established in Hong Kong, with Italy among the twelve founding nations. The first world championship took place in 1995 in Miluo City, Hunan province - the cradle of the legend. Schermi was there, as head of the Italian delegation. Since then, the IDBF has established a steady rhythm: a World Nations Championships one year, followed by a Club Crew World Championships the next, alternating annually between national teams and club crews.
THE SHIFT TO HONG KONG - Since then, Schermi has dedicated his career to building a solid foundation for the sport. He led the Italian federation from 1997 to 2017, then the European federation until 2024. That year, he became the first non-British president in the IDBF's history, whose headquarters have always been in England. "Our headquarters have always been there," he explained. "My motto is to bring it home." The project to relocate to Hong Kong - the city where the modern sport was born - took a decisive step forward last year, when the IDBF Congress approved new Articles of Association with 84% of the vote, paving the way for legal incorporation. It will be the first international sports federation based there, following a change in local law to accommodate it. The process is expected to be completed in the coming months. Today, the IDBF governs over 80 affiliated nations and is supported by five continental federations.
Cr-AIPS
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