Cheah Liek Hou Retains His Medal After Winning M’sia’s First Gold at 2024 Paris Paralympics

Unfortunately, none of our athletes won any gold medals during the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. However, para-badminton player Cheah Liek Hou has made Malaysia proud by winning our country’s first gold this year at the Paris Paralympics in the men’s singles SU5 (upper body impairment).

He smashed his way through only two sets to win 21-13, 21-15 over Indonesia's Suryo Nugroho at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle. He also previously beat the Indonesian athlete in the group state. Liek Hou was born with Erb's palsy, which causes his right hand to have less strength and stability.

Liek Hou first made history at the 2020 Tokyo Games when he won gold, making him the first Malaysian athlete to win a medal in para-badminton. He is one of Malaysia’s most decorated Paralympians, with his honours including a whopping eight world titles in the singles and two golds in the Asian Para Games. You can read more about Liek Hou’s life story here.

‘Cheah Liek Hou’ is currently trending at no.1 on X in Malaysia as of the time of writing, with proud netizens congratulating the athlete.

One X user wrote, “Negaraku played for the first time on Parisian land. A million thank yous to Cheah Liek Hou.”

Another user shared that throughout Cheah Liek Hou’s career, he has only lost 29 times but has won 318 times. Throughout 2024, he remains undefeated with a staggering 33 wins. “He’s a national treasure, he’s a legend, and he is Cheah Like Hou”, they wrote.

This user also shared a particularly mind-blowing shot he made:

His story of winning the gold medal in the 2020 Summer Paralympics has been immortalised in a film directed by Adrian Teh titled ‘Gold’. The movie, which was recently released on August 29 can be streamed on Astro First channel 480, the On Demand Store and sooka. Read our review here.

Thank you for making Malaysia proud!