MELBOURNE, March 14 — On the water, Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah is remarkable to the extent she has taken to it so well despite growing up in Malaysia which is not known for its water culture.

Her aura is one of pure joy. There is no hint of the steely ruthlessness one might associate with elite athletes at world championship level.

Yet this 10-year-old prodigy was pitting herself against the world’s best at the prestigious Moomba Masters water-skiing championships in Melbourne – almost all of them professional athletes, at least one three times her age.

Back on firm ground, Aaliyah is like most other 10-year-olds, skipping off to while away her time with new-found friends her age, or cycling around on her rent-a-bike.

In the world of water skiing, the Moomba Masters is rated among the top – with events of the largest and most active water ski federation in the world, the Florida Water Ski Federation in Polk City, Florida – drawing more than 200,000 spectators over its six days and offering top prize to the winners of up to US$20,000 (RM65,180).

It is run in conjunction with the Moomba Festival in Melbourne, now in its 60th year.

Water skiing events are run over three disciplines: tricks, slalom and jumps respectively for men and women, with prizes for individual disciplines, and overall prizes for an aggregation of all three disciplines.

Aaliyah is limited to tricks, for her less than fully formed frame.

This was her second year competing in the Moomba Masters, but the first in which she had been invited to compete in the women’s open. Last year she competed in the girls event.

In the event that ran from March 5-10, Aaliyah won silver in the girls under-18, losing out only to Erika Lang of the US, the open women’s world record holder who is in the last year of competition in the age group.

In the invitation-only open women’s event, Aaliyah finished eighth, earning a place in the semi-finals in a field that included three world champions and two world record holders from six other countries.

Fran Hynes, secretary of the Victorian Water Ski Association and manager of the Moomba Masters, was ecstatic in having been vindicated for extending an invitation to one so young to the open tricks event.

Said Hynes of what Aaliyah brought to the event: “Her presentation, sportsmanship; and she mixes well with the children of her age, giving them something to aim for.

“Here in Melbourne, we are a great sporting capital (of Australia), and (the spectators) support what they see in good sportsmanship. They appreciate what they see of someone of that age in doing what they do.

“She presents the sport to the public … very good.”

Aaliyah can expect to be invited back for many years.

She was the toast of the commentators calling the performances, and subject of television interviews. Spectators stopped to take selfies with her.

“I had never heard of her,” said social wakeboard skier Ashlee Morton, one of those who went up to Aaliyah for a selfie. “I was just watching from the banks and I thought, ‘Wow … incredible’.”

Former multiple world champion Clementine Lucine, 31, who was third going into the Moomba Masters finals, is proud to count herself among Aaliyah’s mentors.

“I will be very proud to say I have been one of her mentors when she gets to be world champion,” said the Frenchwoman who has been a regular visitor to Malaysia, training with Aaliyah at the operations that Hanifah runs at Putrajaya.

“Yes I’m pretty sure she will be (world champion) one day,” she told The Malay Mail Online. “She has everything it takes and I know she will do everything to achieve her dream goals.

“It’s not easy to say how long it can take … but I bet she can be very quick.”

Aaliyah was philosophical about not advancing beyond the semi-finals.

“The water conditions on the Yarra River is the most challenging compared to many other ski sites since we have to deal with flowing currents and mixed sea-water and fresh-water conditions, with wind added to that,” she says.

Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah, the girl who couldn’t be happier than when she is on water. — Pictures by Chris West

As the first competitor to make her two passes in the semi-finals, she thought the boat driver might not have gauged the flow of the current.

“But it’s OK. I am happy to have qualified (for the semi-finals). I just went out and enjoyed myself,” before she skipped off to play with some of her friends her age.

Hanifah, who is Aaliyah’s coach, said Aaliyah had already achieved above expectations.

“Just having been invited to this prestigious event is recognition of her standing in world water skiing,” he said.

In the girls' event, Aaliyah scored a personal best 5,920 points – a new benchmark to aim at – performing tricks some of which she had picked up only two weeks before Moomba.

In the sights of father and daughter is the making of a world beater, of the likes of Datuk Lee Chong Wei (badminton) and Datuk Nicol David (squash).

On water, our first captivating Malaysian was super-fish Nurul Huda Abdullah, SEA Games multiple-gold winner and records-breaker in 1985, and Asian Games medals winner in 1986.

That was before divers Pandelela Rinong and Leong Mun Yee (2009 World Aquatics Championships) and 2012 London Olympics stars, even if they did not finish top of the heap.

That Malaysians have fallen just short on water can only serve to motivate Hanifah.

It’s not that Hanifah is one to model his children on what others have done before them – Malaysians or otherwise. Nor is he one to drive his children towards vicarious goals he has fallen short of.

Doing a flip.

It took two years of badgering before Hanifah relented; to fashion a pair of skis for tiny Aaliyah’s five-year-old feet for her to do what she had rued not having been allowed to do – what half-brother Alex and half-sister Philippa were doing with such panache.

The prodigy, with father and mother Nozie, are survivors of the 2004 tsunami that hit Phuket.

Aaliyah comes from a pedigree that produced Malaysia’s only Formula One driver, Alex Yoong.

Hanifah himself has a chequered sporting past, from motor racing to water skiing, as participant, administrator and owner-operator of related facilities. He now operates the Putrajaya Water Sports Centre in Putrajaya.

He would not be specific about the millions of his own money he had to put in to get Alex a drive. Now he and his wife are firm on doing no less for Aaliyah.

They have set aside a substantial budget beyond which they would not go, figuring that by which time they would have a fair idea how far Aaliyah would go towards becoming a world beater.

In the meantime, they are determined that Aaliyah would have as normal a childhood as any. The Sunday that father and daughter knew that the semi-finals was as far that Aaliyah would go at the Moomba Masters, they cut short their intended stay by a day, so Aaliyah could make school at Nexus International School, Putrajaya, the following day.

It all accords with Hanifah’s philosophy of nurturing in any individual a well-rounded worldview.