KUALA LUMPUR – National para badminton ace Cheah Liek Hou is confident of winning all 12 tournaments he will be competing in this year and, as such, brightening his chances of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist, however, will not take his opponents in each of the 12 tournaments lightly.
“This is an important year for me to qualify for the Paris Paralympics. My first tournament of the year is in Spain next month. Of course, many will want to beat me, so I will have to take it one tournament at a time.
“I must make sure I am in the best shape possible. I am not young anymore and I need to avoid picking up injuries so that I won’t lose out on collecting qualifying points,” he said in an interview recently.
Liek Hou, who will turn 35 in March, is confident that he can handle the pressure and win all 12 tournaments he will be competing in.
Liek Hou trains under Indonesian Nova Armada, who also coaches professional shuttlers Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles) and Soong Joo Ven (men’s singles).
“Under Nova’s guidance, I consider myself having a slight advantage after training with both of them.
“Training with them (Jin Wei and Joo Ven), I can see a difference in terms of my agility, besides having to be mentally tougher. These will give me an added advantage in my upcoming tournaments,” he said.
Liek Hou ended the year 2022 in style by bagging his seventh world title in the men’s singles SU5 (physical impairment) category at the Para Badminton World Championships in Tokyo last November. – Bernama, January 11, 2023
