Malaysia’s Cheah Liek Hou continued his remarkable unbeaten run from 2019 by bagging his ninth straight title at Bahrain Para Badminton International 2022 in Manama yesterday.
In the SU5 men’s singles final, the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medallist swiftly concluded the task in 24 minutes, winning 21-7 21-12 against Poland’s Bartlomiej Mroz.
The 34-year-old later returned to take the men’s doubles crown with new partner Muhammad Fareez Anuar, stunning top seeds Chirag Baretha–Raj Kumar of India 14-21 21-19 21-7.
Cheah, who in April was also a titlist at Brazil Para Badminton International, is now unbeaten in 49 men’s singles matches since losing to Indonesian Suryo Nugroho in the 2019 China Para-Badminton International final.
As in Brazil, India were the biggest winners again, taking home seven gold, three silver and 13 bronze for a 27-medal total haul.
Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat, Tarun Dhillon and Manisha Ramdass contributed two top finishes each, winning both the singles and doubles title matches in their respective categories.
Meanwhile, England’s Rachel Choong, returning to competitive action following a three-year lapse, had a day to remember after pocketing two medals.
Although Choong lost in the SH6 women’s singles final to India’s Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan 21-15 21-15, the 28-year-old combined with Jack Shephard to beat Hong Kong China’s Man Kai Chu/Choi Wing Kei 21-10 21-6 for the mixed doubles gold.
First tournament back after 3 years away and I’m coming home with a gold in XD with Jack, and a silver in WS!!! 🥳
After only being on the full time programme for 8 weeks, and playing some of my best badminton of the week today – I can’t complain with the results really! 🥇🥈 pic.twitter.com/z4RL0ynXFH
— Rach Choong (@rach_choong) May 21, 2022
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