Smashing Liek Hou nails first gold for Malaysia in Paralympics

PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Cheah Liek Hou is unstoppable.

Liek Hou brought much joy to the Malaysian contingent when he captured the country’s first gold in the Paris Paralympics by defending his gold medal in the men’s singles SU5 (upper body impairment) on Monday (Sept 2).

Liek Hou celebrated wildly with his coach Nova Armada after securing a commanding 21-13, 21-15 win over Indonesia’s Suryo Nugroho at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle.

It was the 36-year-old’s second win over the Indonesian after also beating him in the group stage.

He successfully defended his gold won in the 2021 Tokyo Games where he came out on top over Suryo’s teammate and arch rival Dheva Anrimusthi.

Liek Hou proved again that he was the undisputable king in the men’s singles SU5 as he was unstoppable throughout the tournament including when he impressively ousted Dheva 21-17, 21-17 in the last four and won the title without dropping a single game.

Liek Hou added to the gold to his incredible collection of major honours which includes a whopping eight world titles in the singles and two golds in the Asian Para Games.

In the doubles, he has also won six world titles and two golds in the Asiad.

Meanwhile, there was no double joy for Malaysia when Fareez Anuar missed out on the bronze after going down fighting 21-17, 19-21, 12-21 to Dheva in the third place playoff match.

Fareez had toppled Dheva in the group stage but could not pull off a win this time.

The 28-year-old started strongly and managed to take the first game and came agonisingly close to winning the second but ended up narrowly losing before going down in the decider as well.

RESULTS (Malaysians only)

Men’s singles SU5

Final: Cheah Liek Hou bt Suryo Nugroho (Ina) 21-13, 21-15.

Bronze medal playoff: Dheva Anrimusthi (Ina) bt Fareez Anuar 17-21, 21-19, 21-12.