Liek Hou to fully focus on singles as Games title defence approaches
PETALING JAYA: Cheah Liek Hou will take a break from playing in the SU5 (upper impairment) men’s doubles, which is a non-olympic event, to fully focus on his title defence at the Paris Paralympics.
He became Malaysia’s first Paralympic champion in badminton by winning the singles gold in Tokyo in 2021 and Liek Hou is expected to lock horns again with his nemesis Dheva Anrimusthi of Indonesia in Paris this year.
Liek Hou, who defeated Dheva in Tokyo in the final, also overcame the same opponent (21-15, 16-21, 21-15) to secure an astonishing eighth singles crown at the World Championships in Pattaya on Sunday.
It was a double delight as he and Fareez Anuar secured their first men’s doubles crown as a pair after beating India’s Chirag Baretha-raj Kumar (21-17, 21-18) but he doesn’t have to tax himself in the Paralympics.
Only the men’s singles (SU5) will be contested in the Paralympics and this will do a world of good to the 36-year-old Liek Hou.
Liek Hou is likely to compete in the Spanish Para 2 (Apr 15-21) in Victoria, Spanish Para 1 (April 23-27) in Toledo, Bahrain Para (May 21-26) in Manama and Four Nations (June 18-23) in Glasgow as his build-up but he only wants to play in the singles.
“The World Para title is a great boost but at my age, it is not easy to keep playing in two events leading up to the Paralympics. I will focus on the singles during the build-up tournaments,” said Liek Hou.
“Once the Paralympics is over, I would play again in the doubles with Fareez depending on my condition but preparation for Paris takes precedence for now.
“I have to work on my weaknesses and rectify them in my build-up for the Paralympics.”
Liek Hou’s coach Nova Armada is not worried over his protege’s form and condition but he is more concerned about getting Fareez into the Paralympics.
The Olympic qualifying ruling will allow one player per country in an event but it also permits a maximum ten men qualifiers and this may provide Fareez with a chance.
“Fareez is currently ranked No. 6 but we have to request for wildcard entry as Liek Hou has already confirmed his berth as the No. 1 in SU5,” said Nova.
“Since we have only about five total men qualifiers, I believe Fareez should be able to enter using the wildcard.”
Indonesia will also be pushing for two spots as No. 4 Suryo Nugroho’s presence will help them in mounting a twin challenge to unseat Liek Hou.
This is also the reason Nova is pushing for the inclusion of Fareez as this could ease the pressure on Like Hou.
The others set to make the Paris Paralympics are Ikhwan Ramli (wheelchair singles), Noor Azwan Noorlan-ikhwan (wheelchair men’s doubles) and Amin Burhanuddin (men’s singles SL4).