Paris 2024: Liek Hou, Muhammad Fareez Storm To Semi-finals

By Amiril Muttaqien Meketar

PARIS, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- National para shuttlers Cheah Liek Hou and Muhammad Fareez Anuar have successfully earned a place in the semi-final after both of them recorded a victory against their respective opponents in the men’s singles SU5 (physical impairment) at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, today.

After posting a convincing 21-10, 21-6 against Polish shuttler, Bartlmiej Mroz yesterday, Liek Hou, who is also the last edition’s gold medalllist, needed only 32 minutes to see off France’s Meril Loquette, 21-10, 21-16 in his second Group A tie held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.

The world number one shuttler admitted that after winning comfortably in the opening set, a few unforced errors and the strong drift on the court had affected his momentum - allowing the Frenchman to save seven points - before eventually winning the game.

The eight-time world champion now hopes that he can continue his rhythm to beat his final opponent in Group A, Suryo Nugroho of Indonesia, tomorrow, and head to the last four as the group champion.

"I need to improve my game because I expect a tough match tomorrow. Today, my game was delayed, which left me tired from waiting, but in the end, I'm satisfied with the win," he told Bernama at the mixed zone.

Meanwhile, world number four Muhammad Fareez continued his stellar run here by upsetting Dheva Anrimusthi of Indonesia, ranked third, in the Group B action.

Even sweeter is the fact that the 28-year-old crawled back after losing 14-21 in the opening set before taking the next two sets, 21-19, 21-19, in 75 minutes.

Muhammad Fareez, who pulled off a surprise win over second seed Fang Jen-Yu of Taiwan, 21-14, 21-18, will round up the group stage against Taiyo Imai of Japan next.

In the men’s singles SL4 (physical impairment) Mohd Amin Burhanuddin brushed aside the challenge from  Siripong Teamarrom, 21-14, 22-20 in Group B, following a rubber set loss to Sukant Kadam of India, 21-17, 15-20, 20-22, yesterday.

In the meantime, national wheelchair-bound player, Muhammad Ikhwan Ramli went down fighting against South Korea’s Jeong Jaegun, 23-25, 21-17, 13-21 in Group B action of the men’s singles WH1 (physical impairment).

On the other hand, Noor Azwan Noorlan, who played in men’s singles WH2 (physical impairment) endured a similar outcome, losing to Chile’s Jaime Aranguiz 15-21, 13-21.

Earlier, Noor Azwan-Muhammad Ikhwan’s challenge in men’s doubles WH1-2 (physical impairment) ended early as they suffered back-to-back losses in Group B action, this time against Qu Zi Mo-Mai Jianpeng from China, 21-16, 21-6, after going down to Japanese duo, 21-17, 13-21, 16-21 in the opening match yesterday.

-- BERNAMA