Cover story: Zara Aaliya Azlan, Putera Adam and Lucas Santiago Wehle are changing the game for sports in Malaysia

Still, beneath the medals and titles is a young girl who speaks about the sport with surprising calmness and clarity. “Jiu-Jitsu is like a constant moving puzzle,” she explains, describing the technical and strategic nature of a sport that demands equal parts intelligence and instinct.

Her rise, however, has not come without setbacks. “It’s not always been an easy journey,” she says candidly. “I think all my losses actually made me rethink my game and take my training very seriously.”

That ability to grow through defeat has become central to Zara’s development. Not just as an athlete, but as a competitor learning to navigate pressure on an international stage. Her mother, entrepreneur, Yiulin, has witnessed that transformation firsthand. “It’s training every day, for hours but she loves doing it,” she says. “I think she’s really trailblazed and paved the way for a lot of Malaysians.”

In many ways, Zara’s success reflects the quiet rise of niche sports in Malaysia, where young athletes are increasingly building careers outside traditional systems. Yet despite her accomplishments, she speaks less about individual success and more about community. “I want a lot more of my friends winning,” she says. According to Yiulin, that mindset has always defined her daughter: “She wants her friends and teammates to be world champions like her.”

There is also immense pride in representing the country. “I think carrying that Malaysian flag and bringing home the gold medals… it’s quite inspiring,” Zara reflects. It is a sentiment that feels larger than sport itself—a reminder that for many young athletes, visibility matters just as much as victory.

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Motorsport was never just about speed for Putera Adam. It was an obsession from the very beginning. “After the first day, I fell in love with the sport,” he says, recalling his introduction to racing by his father. Today, he competes internationally in GT racing—driving high-performance machines worth millions while balancing the pressures of university life abroad.

The glamour often associated with motorsport quickly fades when Putera describes the reality behind it. “Motorsports is a sport where you have to invest a lot into it,” he explains. “It’s very expensive because to go out on track, there’s a lot of costs that come into it.”

There is also very little room for error. “You make one mistake and you could crash the whole car,” he says matter-of-factly. In racing, instinct becomes survival. “Instinct in racing is almost everything.”

Before every race, he follows a ritual almost religiously. “Forty minutes before the race, I always have a shot of espresso,” he says with a laugh. “Right before I get into the car, I visualise myself driving on the track. Lastly, what I do is I say a prayer before I race. It cools all the nerves.”

Despite competing on international circuits surrounded by some of the sport’s biggest names and wealthiest teams, Putera remains deeply connected to home. “I’m very patriotic, and wherever I go, I’m very proud to tell everyone that I’m Malaysian,” he says. “Maybe sometimes they don’t know where Malaysia is but I’m very, very proud to say that I’m Malaysian.”

That sense of responsibility extends beyond his own career. Putera is acutely aware of the barriers young Malaysians face in motorsport, particularly in a sport that requires enormous financial backing and access. “There are a lot of young talents in Malaysia that go under the radar,” he says. “If we have proper structure and proper training, we will be able to compete with the best in the world.”

It is why he already thinks about what comes after racing. “When I’m older, I want to try and create a structured pathway for young drivers to grow,” he says. This vision speaks not only to ambition, but to the desire to leave something behind for the next generation.

For Lucas Santiago Wehle, surfing began less as a career path and more as freedom. “When I started it, I thought of it just more as having fun,” he says. “I wasn’t really following something or pursuing something before surfing.”

Now, his life revolves around waves, competitions and constant travel between some of the world’s most renowned surf destinations. Yet despite the demanding reality of competitive surfing, Lucas still speaks about the sport with a kind of awe. “I think my favourite thing about surfing is that every time you go, it’s a new experience,” he says. “The waves are never the same twice.”

That unpredictability is exactly what makes surfing so mentally demanding. “The wave conditions are always unpredictable and you never really know where the waves are going to come,” he explains. “Being mentally strong and tactically smart usually gets you a lot further than just being naturally good at surfing.”

Competitive surfing, he says, is often about waiting for the right moment—and having the confidence to act when it arrives. “It’s a sport that comes with a lot of luck and chance, and you need to be able to perform once you get the chance because you don’t get so many chances.”

Still, pressure is something he has learned to embrace. “Pressure and expectation is something that I kind of enjoy,” he says. “Once I’m in my heat, I’m usually kind of in an adrenaline flow state. So, I’m not thinking too much. I’m just basing it off instinct when I’m in the water.”

One of the defining moments of his young career came last year when he qualified for the Asian Games. “Last year, being able to earn the ticket for the Asian Games for my country was a big dream come true,” he says. “Whenever I look at the flag on my board, I feel inspired.”

Like Zara and Putera, Lucas sees his achievements as part of something bigger than himself. “I’d love to see a proper system going, proper support for all the young surfers, and equal chances for everyone,” he says.

For athletes like Lucas, the future of Malaysian sport may not look like the traditional pathways that came before it. It may instead exist in waves, racetracks and martial arts gyms—built by young people carving out entirely new spaces for themselves.

They may come from vastly different sporting worlds, but together they represent something unmistakably shared: a generation redefining what it means to wear Malaysia’s name on the world stage.

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