Liek Hou battles pain to regain Asian singles para title after 13 years

From left - Cheah Liek Hou, coach Nova Armada and Fareez Anuar.
PETALING JAYA: Para shuttler Cheah Liek Hou shows no signs of slowing down after bagging two golds in the Asian Para Badminton Championships. The 37-year-old fought hard to beat Indonesian arch rival Dheva Anrimusthi 21-19, 15-21, 21-18 in the men's singles SU5 (upper body impairment) final in Korat on Sunday (June 22). In the semi-finals, Liek Hou defeated Suryo Nugroho of Indonesia 21-12, 17-21, 11-8 (rtd). "After nine months, I'm meeting these Indonesian players again just like at the Paris Paralympics, and I'm glad that I defeated them although I'm not physically at my best," said the Paris Paralympics champion, who is carrying leg injury. "It was quite tough for me, and I still feel the pain in leg after the winning here. I will come back home and get it treated." It was the Liek Hou's fourth gold in the singles in the Asian meet after also triumphing in 2004, 2008 and 2012. He was a bronze medal winner at the 2016 edition in Beijing. The two-time Paralympic gold medallist then teamed up with Fareez Anuar to easily come out on top over India's Hardik Makkar-Ruthick Ragupathi 21-14, 21-8 for the men's doubles SU5 title. Fareez settled for a bronze in the singles after going down 18-21, 9-21 to Dheva in the last four a day earlier.

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