FILIPINO-AMERICAN Naomi Marjorie Cesar copped the bronze medal in the women’s 800 meters at the Asian U18 Athletics Championships, marking the Philippines’ first-ever podium finish in the continental competition.
Cesar, 16, clocked 2 minutes and 17.87 seconds, finishing behind Sri Lanka’s Mahadura Pemasiri (2:14.86) and China’s Ye Meiling (2:15.92).
The result was the Philippines’ second medal in the history of the biennial tournament.
The country’s first was a long jump bronze by Jose Jerry Belibestre in 2015 in Doha, Qatar.
“It was good and exciting. It was definitely unbelievable,” Cesar shared in an interview with RP2 Sports Radio.
Naomi is currently a Grade 10 student-athlete at Sunset High School in Portland, Oregon, and this event was her international debut representing the Philippines.
Sporting excellence runs in her blood.
Her sister, Maleah Cesar, represented the Philippines in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand as a member of the PWNFT, while their father, Ben Cesar, was part of the Philippine national track and field team from 1991 to 1997.
Her time was good enough to beat at least three regional competitors in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
