Liek Hou reaches two finals in South Korea

PETALING JAYA: It was a glorious day for Cheah Liek Hou (pic) when he stormed into two finals – the men’s singles and doubles – at the BWF-Para World Championships in Ulsan, South Korea.

The 29-year-old Liek Hou trounced Japan’s Taiyo Imai 21-14, 21-8 in the semi-finals of the SU5 (impairment in upper body) at the Dongchun Gymnasium yesterday.

The defending champion will take on Suryo Nugroho of Indonesia in today’s final.

He had defeated the Indonesian in the final of the Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games in August.

Liek Hou will also be out to defend the men’s doubles title with Hairol Fozi Saaba.

The duo defeated South Korea’s Kim Gi-yeon-Shin Kyung-hwan 21-13, 21-16 and will face Suryo and his Singapore partner Tay Wei Ming.

“It’s great to be in two finals again after two years. I’ve beaten Suryo before but I’ll remain cautious,” said Liek Hou.

“I’ll do my best to defend both titles.”

There were disappointments for Didin Taresoh, Bakri Omar and Madzlan Saibon after losing their respective men’s singles semi-final matches to settle for bronze yesterday.

Defending champion and KL Para Games champion Didin suffered a shock 15-21, 12-21 defeat to England’s Jack Shephard in the SS6 (short stature).

Bakri failed to make a breakthrough in the world meet again after losing 18-21, 15-21 to India’s Tarun Tarun in the SL4 (impairment in one or both limbs). Madzlan fought tooth and nail but it was still not good enough to beat South Korea’s Kim Jung-jun. He went down 17-21, 21-18, 12-21 in 59 minutes.