Philomena Creates History As First Sarawakian Woman To Win Asian Body Building Title
Congratulations, Philomena!
By Melissa Alvina — 08 Sep 2023, 10:58 AM
A 40-year-old Bidayuh woman from Sarawak has made history by winning a gold medal at the recently concluded 55th Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships in Kathmandu, Nepal
The musclewoman, Philomena Dexclyn Siar, defeated her competitors, Nguyen Thi Kim Cuong from Vietnam and Ajaree Tansub from Thailand, to clinch the medal in the Women's Sports Physique (over 165cm) event.
Philomena has now become the first Sarawakian woman to win a title in the Asian competition.
Her participation in the Asian championship in Kathmandu marked her third appearance in the competition.
She had previously achieved top five rankings in both the 2019 edition held in Batam, Indonesia, and the event in Maldives last year, according to The Borneo Post.
After winning the gold, Philomena said that she experienced emotions that could be described as a mix of happiness, gratitude, and relief
"I do feel blessed to have finally achieved what I have worked really hard for, which is getting my first gold medal in the Asian championship," she was quoted as saying by The Borneo Post.
Philomena also mentioned that she is all fired up and ready to take on the forthcoming World Championships that will be held in South Korea this November.
The professional bodybuilder made her debut at Singapore's FM League Physique War & Muscle War in 2018
In an interview with Dayak Daily earlier this year, Philomena shared that Dr Malvern Abdullah, a fellow bodybuilding athlete who won a silver medal at the Kathmandu event, was the one who encouraged her to participate in bodybuilding competitions.
She mentioned that, since then, she has never second-guessed her decision to pursue this path.
The musclewoman previously won a silver medal at the 16th Southeast Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships in Yangon, Myanmar, which is known to be her best achievement before Nepal.
