SEA Games 2023: Meet Zara Aleesya Suadi, Malaysia' 'Little mermaid' competing at just 11 years old
Malaysia's youngest competitor at the Southeast Asian Games competed in finswimming alongside her adult team-mates and now wants more.
There is a real-life 'Little Mermaid', and her name is Zara Aleesya Suadi.
The 11-year-old Malaysian took part in the finswimming competition at the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia on Saturday (13 May) competing alongside her adult team-mates in the 4x100m Surface Relay. Finishing last, the youngster was unperturbed.
“First of all, I'm very proud of my teammates. Even though we finished last, it’s our first time and we gave it our best shot.
"For me it was an entirely new experience, preparing and training for this event and most of all, I'm small and coming here to compete with adults was a bit strange at first.
"But then I just told myself, I'm already here so what else can I do, so let's just do it."
Zara is Malaysia's youngest athlete at the 2023 SEA Games and it was quite the experience for the schoolgirl.
"Once I got selected I knew I had to give it my all, so I had to sacrifice a lot and trained hard for it.
"During Ramadan I trained five days a week from Monday to Friday between 3am and 5am. Then my Hari Raya Aidilfitri (Eid) celebrations were cut. This year we did not go back to my hometown in Kelantan because I had to prepare for the SEA Games, but overall it was worth it."
Zara had only switched to finswimming five months ago and this was her first international competition. The youngster learned to swim aged six after her parents, Mohamad Suadi Samsuddin and Haslinda Haron, wanted their only child to do something more meaningful than staring at gadgets all day. Only at the start of 2023 did the schoolgirl take up fin swimming and Zara wants more.
"Of course I want to focus on this and will keep working to improve with every competition."
Zara will also take part in the 50m distance in the same discipline on Sunday (14 May).