Rousing start for Liek Hou, Muhammad Fareez stuns Jen-Yu

PARIS: National para badminton ace, Cheah Liek Hou opened his men’s singles SU5 (physical impairment) gold medal defence on a bright note on the first day of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, here, today.

In a Group A match held in Porte de la Chapelle Arena, the world number one player and top seed proved to be too hot to handle for Polish shuttler, Bartlomiej Mroz, as the Malaysian cruised to a 21-10, 21-6 victory in 26-minutes.

Meanwhile, another Malaysian shuttler, Muhammad Fareez Anuar, who played in the same category, made an impressive debut at the Games here as he pulled off an upset over second seed from Taiwan, Fang Jen-Yu (TPE) 21-14, 21-18, in a Group B match.

In the meantime, coach Nova Armada was pleased to see both of his charges played really well today.

While he had expected Liek Hou to win the game against Mroz, the Indonesian coach was delighted to see the unseeded Muhammad Fareez stunned Jen-Yu.

He said the 28-year-old had a poor record against the Taiwanese player, losing six times in eight matches before.

“It is hoped Muhammad Fareez’s victory would build his confidence as he is in a tough group world number three, Dheva Anrimusthi of Indonesia,” he told Bernama.

Muhammad Fareez who is currently ranked fourth best, was also drawn against Taiyo Imai of Japan in Group B.

The top two players from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, it was a different story for men’s singles player Mohd Amin Burhanuddin, and men’s doubles pair Noor Azwan Noorlan and Muhammad Ikhwan Ramli.

Both lost their respective group matches after initially taking the lead in the first set and then faltering in the next two.

Mohd Amin, who played in men’s singles SL4 (physical impairment), suffered a 17-21, 21-15, 22-20 defeat at the hands of Sukant Kadam from India in a Group B match.

Noor Azwan-Muhammad Ikhwan, who competed in men’s doubles WH1-2 (physical impairment), lost out to Japanese duo Daiki Kajiwara-Hiroshi Murayama (JPN) 17-21, 21-13, 21-16 in a Group B tie.