Liek Hou hopeful of finally landing elusive BWF award

PETALING JAYA: Para shuttler Cheah Liek Hou (pic) is hoping to finally get his hands on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Best Male Player of The Year award.

The reigning Paralympics gold medallist has surprisingly never won it despite being nominated a couple of times over the years.

The 35-year-old has again been recognised for his stellar achievements throughout the year in the men’s singles SU5 (upper body impairment) event.

Liek Hou had captured five titles and won silver in the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in October.

“Frankly speaking, I’ve been nominated a few times but have never won,” revealed Liek Hou.

“I think overall, there have been players who did better than me.

“It’s really competitive but I hope I will win it one day.”

The other players nominated are last year’s winner Daiji Kajiwara of Japan, Frenchman Lucas Mazur and South Korea’s Kim Jung-jun.

Liek Hou is also in the running for the Best Pair award for the first time along with Fareez Anuar.

The duo had won six titles this year and returned home with a bronze in the Asiad.

“The nomination is a good sign for us as we only combined around a year ago,” said Liek Hou.

Fareez was also pleased to be recognised.

“At first, I was surprised. The doubles SU5 event is not contested in the Olympics but it’s great to see us being acknowledged by the BWF.

“This is a huge motivation for us to keep winning titles. Overall, we did well this year except in the Asiad where we were unlucky as I injured my foot in the semi-finals.”

The other nominees for the award are Indonesian pairs Subhan Subhan-Rina Marlina, Hikmat Ramdani-Leani Ratri, Leani Ratri-Khalitmus Sadiyah and Japan’s Sarina Satomi-Yuma Yamazaki.