PETALING JAYA: Cheah Liek Hou won’t be a ‘’lone ranger’’ in his title defence at the Paris Paralympics as Fareez Anuar will also be doing battle for a place in the semi-finals when the SU5 men’s singles competition smashes off at the Port de la Chapelle today.
Fareez, 28, will be making his debut and has made a rapid rise this year to occupy the ranking of world No. 4 and is seen as an ideal foil for defending champion and world No. 1 Liek Hou.
Liek Hou, 36, was forced to battle alone in Tokyo three years ago against Indonesian rivals Dheva Anrimusthi, the world No. 3, and world No. 5 Suryo Nugroho to become Malaysia’s first Paralympic gold medallist in badminton.
However, this time around Fareez will be there to lighten the burden on Liek Hou’s shoulders and there is also a possibility that both have a fighting chance to finish on the podium.
Liek Hou is in Group A with Suryo, Bartlomiej Mroz of Poland (No.12) and Frenchman Meril Loquette (No. 8) and should secure his semi-final berth without much trouble.
However, Fareez is in a difficult Group B with Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Dheva, world No. 2 Fang Jen-yu of Taiwan and Japan’s world No. 6 Taiyo Imai and must finish in the top two to secure his last four berth.
“The presence of Fareez will also help me a lot and I hope that he will do well in the group stage where he has a very tough draw,” said Liek Hou.
“At my age now, I must really be in a very good condition as we have to play continuously for five days and must be physically strong to have a good result here.
“Although it is going to be very challenging and very hard to predict the outcome, I am hoping that both of us will make it to the semi-finals.
“On paper, the draw looks good for me but I can’t underestimate my three opponents in the group although they are ranked lower than me and the head-to-head records also favour me.”
Guided by coach Nova Armada, Malaysia will be banking on the two-pronged attack from Liek Hou and Fareez to land the gold again.
Liek Hou opens his campaign against Mroz while Fareez has an uphill task against Jen-yu today.
Meanwhile, wheelchair (WH1-WH2) pair Noor Azwan Noorlan-Ikhwan Ramli also begin their campaign against Daiki Kajiwara-Hiroshi Murayama of Japan in Group B.
Amin Burhanuddin, who plays in the SL4men’s singles, will play Sukant Kadan of India in the Group B.
Ikhwan and Azwan have also qualified for the men’s singles WH2 and WH2 respectively.
