Cover Story: Gold Medal Girl | Prestige Online
Meet Zara Aaliya Azlan—world traveller, K-pop aficionado, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion
who’s the next big thing in Malaysian sports.
It’s May and the final of the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour.
Zara Aaliya Azlan is up against Brazil’s Eduarda Serafin in the battle for gold in their class. The two combatants jog onto the mat—Zara first and then Eduarda following suit after some final adjustments to her gi.
They share a quick handshake with the referee and then each other before squaring off. Zara and Eduarda circle each other warily, inching ever closer before grabbing each other’s sleeves. Zara goes for a single leg takedown, but her opponent reads it and crouches down in the nick of time. Zara plays the aggressor in this bout, following up her earlier attempt with a double leg this time. Again, Eduarda thwarts the action by leaning forward over Zara and spreading her legs. Zara disengages and looks to reconnect on more favorable terms.
They meet in the middle and Zara pulls guard into a closed guard and manages to get a grip. Eduarda lifts her off the ground, showcasing her physical strength, but Zara’s technical superiority ensures she doesn’t lose her advantage.
PULLING GUARD
Zara then establishes a grip on her collar and her sleeve to lock in a triangle. She succeeds, and now it’s only a matter of turning the screw and finishing the job. Zara passes Eduarda’s arm over to the side to fasten her hold. She traps Eduarda in an armbar, and despite her spirited resistance, it’s all over for the feisty little Brazilian who has no choice but to submit. The match was a short but intense affair, with Zara getting the win inside a minute. And just like that, 10-year-old Zara brings home the gold for Malaysia and puts the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) on notice.
SPORTING ROYALTY
The daughter of national squash legend Azlan Iskandar and Ung Yiu Lin, an accomplished swimmer back in her day, Zara hails from a pretty impressive sporting pedigree. The lessons drawn from this background, when allied to her preternatural talent, lend a bit more plausibility to her steep upward trajectory. “I learned that nothing comes without hard work, and if you really want to be good at something, you need to have commitment, dedication, and perseverance,” Zara says.
“My dad got into the top 10 in squash in the world through a lot of hard work, and I believe he has a lot of valuable lessons to share with me along my BJJ journey. My mum pursued swimming and other water sports competitively, though not in a professional capacity. Both remind me of the importance of sports and the values they teach, as well as the goals one needs to set from a young age.”
Sports indeed holds a significant place in the family’s bond, shaping a core part of their connection. Younger siblings Ava and Luca practice BJJ, too, while their dad Azlan has also gotten in on the act, carrying over the competitive edge from his squash-playing days to clinch gold at the Asian Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 2024. When they’re not refining their skills on the mat, you can find the whole family out on a hike, taking a dip, or engaged in a variety of sporting activities. Sports is simply who they are deep down.
BATTLE FOR POSITION
“We’re now on the day of our shoot, and on this occasion, Zara is still sporting her gi, but also tackling a very different kind of challenge—being photographed for this cover story. Making our way up the steps to the second floor of a nondescript building next to a bank sees us arriving at the appointed location. The whitewashed ceiling of the studio starts out high on one side, gradually sloping as it traverses the length of the room. The surroundings are bright and airy with an abundance of natural light.
The turbulence that usually accompanies a big cover shoot is notably absent today. The team is leaner on this occasion, and everybody seems to be in good spirits, riffing off each other and sharing animated conversations between takes. The space is expansive, allowing everyone to break away into their own pockets if need be.
The other side of the studio houses the props for the shoot. There’s a full-length mirror next to a table, on which Zara’s medals are spread out, to be used for the shoot should the moment call for it. I count about 13 of them there—an impressive haul for anybody, but one that becomes that much more remarkable when you factor in that Zara’s only been practicing the sport for about a year and a half. Her mum walks me through what has been an extraordinary ascent thus far.
“In five months, they [Zara and her two siblings] had their first competition. She had two as a white belt. Then after those two where she won gold, she got promoted straight to a grey belt,” says Yiu Lin. “She skipped because of her trajectory of how she understands the sport and how she’s learning a lot faster than most kids her age. It’s just the way she digests things; because it’s a thinking sport, right? BJJ’s a lot about strategy.”
She’s definitely right in that regard. Where some martial arts are coloured by shades of visceral brutality, BJJ is more akin to physical chess. It demands a keen awareness of not only your own body, but also your opponent’s, along with the ability to adapt to constantly shifting planes of leverage and pressure.
It’s perhaps the martial art that depends the least on size and physical strength. Much like its parent style, judo, BJJ techniques allow smaller and weaker practitioners to effectively defend themselves against, and sometimes dominate, physically superior opponents. It’s also renowned for its safety in practice, owing to its ruleset and the absence of strikes, while remaining one of the most effective martial arts. Indeed, BJJ serves as a fundamental discipline in the worldwide phenomenon that is the sport of mixed martial arts.
PASSING THE GUARD
The first shot of the day sees our cameraman clamber to the top of a ladder to capture Zara from above. Zara, in a navy blue gi with a Dior vest wrapped around it, assumes the seated guard for this pose. She then pops into a squat and frog jumps back and forth to get the right distance from the camera. We’re shooting away and Zara’s executing the poses perfectly, but there seems to be just one issue: she isn’t looking into the camera. We do a few retakes, and you can tell it’s not easy for her. Zara’s movements are so ingrained at this point, practised to an almost mechanical perfection, that even the slightest deviation feels wholly unnatural.
Thankfully, the next few shots are enough of a departure from her usual training scenes, sparing Zara from having to battle her instincts. Or so we thought. A pigeon, patiently waiting in the corner of the room for its cue, is brought out by our stylist for the next shot: it’s supposed to fly gracefully past Zara as she gazes into the camera. It seems though that the pigeon didn’t get the memo. It’s clear that Zara isn’t the only one having trouble adjusting to the unfamiliarity of the shoot environment. With some gentle encouragement and impromptu exposure therapy, Zara regains her composure and courageously tries again. After a few more attempts, we finally get the shot we need, and the pigeon is free to go.
The next few shots are relatively straightforward, no grappling with imaginary opponents and no avian intrusions here. One particularly dramatic shot captures Zara from behind, with a brass cricket perched delicately on the back of her neck. The insect echoes the themes of innocence and free-spiritedness introduced by the pigeon earlier. In another shot, Zara peers through a hole in a translucent sheet of paper, revealing her natural childlike curiosity and vulnerability. The final shot showcases Zara’s angelic visage adorned with clear jewels, cradled from above in our stylist’s taped fingers.
SUBMISSION ATTEMPT
These shots vividly illustrate the juxtaposition between the two sides of Zara’s persona. On the one hand, she embodies the cerebral fighting machine, focused and strategic. On the other hand, she reveals her introverted side, very much a child still who prefers rolling around on a gym mat, listening to K-pop, or scrolling through TikTok—activities typical of someone her age.
Shooting wraps up, and Zara, though not entirely comfortable in front of the camera, powers through and delivers shots that capture both her youthful sincerity and indomitable spirit. We move to a nearby sofa for our interview, Zara holding on to her mum’s hand as she has done throughout the afternoon when not in front of the camera or engaging in some downtime on her phone during hair and makeup.
We settle down, and after checking the recording devices, I pose my first question to Zara, asking about how she first started in the sport. If she was uneasy in front of the camera, she’s evidently even more uncomfortable being put on the spot. “When she first started, she was actually fighting boys. I think it’s very empowering for a girl, right? To know that you can defend yourself against boys?” Yiu Lin tries to coax out of Zara, but she’s having none of it. She shifts nervously in her seat before suggesting, “I can just write it down for you.”
Seeing Zara in action and witnessing how she handles opponents on the most daunting of stages can sometimes make you forget that she’s still navigating a tender age and has yet to fully emerge from her shell. And so, we opt for a multimedia approach to the interview, allowing Zara to express herself freely from the comfort of her own home and at her own pace. Over the next few days, we begin an easy correspondence. Zara, removed from the pressure and unfamiliarity of the cover shoot surroundings, opens up.
Editor: Tengku Zai
Stylist: Weechee
Photographer: Micky Wong
Photographer Assistant: CL Yap
Makeup: Deirdre Chong
Hair: Bibian Leong
This cover story first appeared in PRESTIGE Malaysia’s July 2024 issue. To read the full story, pick up a copy in store or subscribe on Magzter.
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
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