Weightlifter Eko Yuli Irawan continued his incredible winning streak in Cambodia, nabbing gold at the men’s 61kg weightlifting final of the 32nd SEA Games. In Phnom Penh, the 33-year-old athlete achieved a new personal best in the clean and jerk category with 170kg, beating his previous record of 169kg in the 2019 SEA Games. The weightlifter has brought glory to his country since 2006, when he won silver at the Junior World Championship. Since then, he has won numerous medals, including four at the Olympic Games, seven at the World Weightlifting Championships, three at the Asian Games and six at the SEA Games. His recent win contributes to Indonesia’s third-place ranking in the SEA Games medal standings. 

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Panipak Wongpattanakit built on her flourishing taekwondo career at the 32nd SEA Games, winning gold in the -49kg class, her fourth gold medal from the regional competition. Previously, she made history for her country and herself at the 2020 Olympic Games. Her triumph in Tokyo made her the first female taekwondo player from Thailand to win a gold medal at the Olympics, as well as bested her bronze medal finish from the 2016 Olympics. The taekwondo star adds her most recent gold medal to her first-place wins at the World Taekwondo Championships, Grand Prix and Grand Slam, Asian Games and Asian Taekwondo Championships. The 25-year-old will soon prepare for the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships, which kicks off at the end of May in Azerbaijan.

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Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik won the gold medal at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, ending Malaysia's 16-year title drought in the men’s event. Malaysia's top badminton duo also took second place at the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships, brought home the bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished as runners-up in the 2019 All England Open. Both athletes were introduced to the sport early: Chia was introduced to badminton by his father at age seven, while Soh, who comes from a family of badminton legends, started playing at four years old. 

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Top shuttler Lee Zii Jia has helped lead the Malaysian badminton team to dominance, having won gold at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, the men’s singles title at the 2021 All England Badminton Championships and another gold at the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships. The athlete, who is the son of former national basketball players Lee Chee Hin and Leow Siet Peng, also represented Malaysia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he made it to the Last-16. He is currently ranked eighth in the Badminton World Federation rankings.

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At the 2019 SEA Games, badminton partners Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu brought home gold in the doubles category. Then, at the 2020 Olympics, the pair made news once more when they earned an emotional win, defeating the world champions to take home Indonesia's first gold in Tokyo. The win also made them the first women's doubles pair from their country to clinch gold at the Olympics, and made Indonesia the only other country besides China to have won in all five badminton events. They credit their age difference—Greysia Polii was then 34, while Apriyani Rahayu was 23—for their power on the court, with one bringing youth and energy, while the other bringing experience.

In 2022, Polii was elected as the chair of the Athlete Commission of the World Badminton Association. Of the appointment, she said: “I would like to assist my fellow players achieve their dreams and help out with their requests around competing on the international circuit.”

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Joe Taslim is known for his appearances in Hollywood blockbusters like Fast & Furious 6 (2013), Star Trek: Beyond (2016) and Mortal Kombat (2019). But before he started acting, Taslim was an accomplished martial artist with experience in judo, taekwondo, pencak silat and wushu. He won the silver medal in judo at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games and the gold at the 1999 Southeast Asian Judo Championships. Taslim continues to display his martial arts skills on screen and was most recenly seen in the TV series Blindspottting.

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During the semifinals of the longboard event at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, surfer Roger Casugay abandoned his own quest for gold when he rescued Indonesian competitor Arip Nurdihayat, who was separated from his board by strong waves. He would eventually win the gold medal at the rescheduled event, but more significantly, the athlete was conferred the Order of Lapu-Lapu, one of the highest civilian honours in the Philippines, and became the first Filipino to receive the Pierre de Coubertin Act of Fair Play Award in Monaco.

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Eumir Marcial, who won gold for boxing in the Southeast Asian Games in 2015, 2017 and 2019, continued his winning streak in his fourth appearance at the regional games in 2022. The boxer turned pro in 2020, scoring his first win in December of the same year and another (after surviving three knockdowns against American Isiah Hart) in 2022. Marcial is also an Olympic medallist, taking home the bronze for middleweight boxing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

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Boxer Nesthy Petecio has a string of medals from the Southeast Asian Games, including one lightweight bronze in 2021, one bantamweight silver in 2011, two featherweight silvers in 2013 and 2015, and two featherweight golds in 2019 and this year’s competition. The champion also won the hearts of her countrymen as she took home the silver in the women’s featherweight division at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, especially as she spoke about her impoverished background, her battle with depression, and her uphill battle to excel in a traditionally male sport.

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Lim Teck Yin won six gold medals in water polo at the Southeast Asian Games. At the end of this month, the former athlete steps down as CEO of Sports Singapore, the organisation that seeks to empower Singaporeans by making sports more accessible and inclusive. Under his leadership, Singapore announced Singpore25, its bid to host the World Athletics Championships in 2025. Of the bid, he said, “Southeast Asia’s potential for new fans, partnerships, athletes, and heroes to take athletics to the next level is self-evident—and Singapore25 can be that springboard”.

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Of the 31 medals that Joseph Schooling won at the Southeast Asian Games, 29 are gold. The champion swimmer, who won the 100m butterfly with a time of 50.39 seconds at the Rio 2016 Olympics, is Singapore’s first gold medallist at the Olympic Games. He has also recorded numerous triumphs at the Asian Games and World Aquatics Championships. Schooling comes from a family of athletes: his father played softball, his mother played tennis and his grand-uncle, Lloyd Valberg, was Singapore’s first Olympian.

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Tatler Asia's Most Influential is the definitive list of people shaping our world today. Asia's Most Influential brings together the region's most innovative changemakers, industry titans and thought leaders who are driving positive impact in Asia and beyond. View the full list here.

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