KUALA LUMPUR: There was double joy for Malaysian para shuttler Cheah Liek Hou when he not only won the men's singles title at the Spanish Para Badminton International championships on Sunday, but also confirmed his spot at the Tokyo Paralympics.
World No 2 Liek Hou won the SU5 (upper body disability) category by downing Japanese world number five Taiyo Imai 21-13, 21-11 in the final in Cartagena, Spain.
Coach Datuk Rashid Sidek confirmed that the win enabled the six-time former world champion to book his ticket to the Tokyo Paralympics from Aug 24-Sept 5.
"I'm satisfied with Cheah's performance and happy to see that he had fulfilled his target to win this tournament," said Rashid.
Last month, Liek Hou won the third Fazza-Dubai Para International tournament in the United Arab Emirates after beating Indonesian Dheva Anrimusthi 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in the final.
Malaysia's Muhammad Ikhwan Ramli won a silver after losing 13-21, 16-21 to South Korea's Lee Dongseop in the final of the WH1 (wheelchair) category. --Bernama