KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — There was double joy for Malaysian para shuttler Cheah Liek Hou when he not only won the men’s singles title at the Spanish Para Badminton International championships today, but also confirmed his spot at the Tokyo Paralympics.
World number two Cheah won the SU5 (upper body disability) category by downing Japanese world number five Taiyo Imai 21-13, 21-11 in the final in Cartagena, Spain, according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) official website .
Cheah’s coach, Datuk Rashid Sidek confirmed that the win enabled the six-time former world champion to book his ticket to the Tokyo Paralympics, to be held from Aug 24-Sept 5.
“I’m satisfied with Cheah’s performance and happy to see that he had fulfilled his target to win this tournament,” he told Bernama when contacted today.
Last month, Cheah won the third Fazza-Dubai Para Badminton International tournament in the United Arab Emirates after beating Indonesian Dheva Anrimusthi 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in the final.
Meanwhile, there was no such luck for another Malaysian finalist, Muhammad Ikhwan Ramli, who lost 13-21, 16-21 to Lee Dongseop of South Korea in the final of the WH1 (wheelchair) category today. — Bernama
