Cheah Liek Hou and Faris Azri win Asian Para Games doubles gold

Cheah Liek Hou and Faris Azri won Malaysia’s first badminton gold at the Asian Para Games, taking the SU5 men’s doubles title in Ichinomiya City.

The pair beat South Korea’s Jeon Sun Woo and Kim Ge Yeon 21-8, 21-13 in their final group match at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium. The victory completed an unbeaten campaign in the four-pair league event.

An unbeaten route to gold

Liek Hou and Faris had earlier beaten Taiwan’s Fang Jen Yu and Pu Gui Yu, as well as Thailand’s Pricha Somsiri and Nattaphon Thaweesap. Their win over the South Korean pair gave them three victories from three group matches.

For Liek Hou, the title was his third Asian Para Games men’s doubles gold and his first in 12 years. He won his previous two titles alongside Suhaili Laiman, at Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014.

This time, he shared the title with Faris, whom he would also meet across the net in the men’s singles competition. The doubles triumph came as Liek Hou continued his bid for another gold at the Games.

Singles semi-final comes next

Liek Hou, a two-time Paralympic champion, beat Faris 21-12, 21-10 in an all-Malaysian men’s singles quarter-final. He is due to face China’s Li Ming Pan in the semi-finals tomorrow.

At press time, the doubles title was Malaysia’s fourth gold of the Games. The other gold medallists were powerlifter Bonnie Bunyau Gustin in the men’s under-72kg event, long jumper Abdul Latif Romly in the men’s T20 event, and Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi in the 1,000m time trial C4-C5.

The doubles campaign is complete, but Liek Hou’s singles campaign remains active.