Written By : Andrew Samuel
Cheah Liek Hou trained hard to add more variety in his game in preparation for the Tokyo Paralympics, according to coach Rashid Sidek.
Rashid, who began training Cheah early last year, said the training regime for the SU5 (Standing Upper 5, upper body impairments) was tailor-made for the shuttler to withstand competition from younger opponents.
“Before Cheah joined me, his game was more attacking and he just wanted to kill fast. But looking at his opponents who are much younger than him, we have added more variety into his game and worked on his fitness.
“He looks stronger now. He has also got more variety in strokes, attack and defence. We have been working on his all-round game,” Rashid told Paralympic.org.
Cheah is determined to make history for Malaysia at the Paralympics by becoming the country’s first para shuttler gold medalist.
Para-badminton will be making its debut at the Tokyo Paralympics after the International Paralympic Committee confirmed the sport in 2014.
The world number two is one of the top medal contenders in his category, having gone on an unbeaten run since 2019 that saw him winning titles at the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Japan, Brazil, Peru and Spain.
Cheah’s main rival for gold is Indonesia’s world champion Dheva Andrimusthi.
The 33-year-old is already reaping the benefits of training with able bodied athletes under Rashid.
“I am the only para shuttler. As the coach is building a junior development programme, there’s a lot of juniors and some international players in his club. It’s good for me to spar with the juniors and seniors to get more variety during training.
“I feel very confident going into the Games. As my opponents are younger than me, I have to work more on physical fitness and my skills, but I am confident to pull off a good result in Tokyo,” Cheah said.
Cheah’s impairment is on his right shoulder, which is weaker than the other side. As a result, he can’t lift that arm above his shoulder.
The SU5 category he competes in is also one of the toughest in para-badminton where shuttlers use the whole court size.
The badminton draw will be conducted on August 26 where Cheah and Dheva will be placed in two different groups of eight players.
