Tokyo: Malaysia’s World No. 2 Paralympics shuttlers in the SU5 category, Cheah Liek Hou, escaped tough opponents – World No. 1 Dheva Anrimusthi and World No. 3 Suryo Nugroho of Indonesia in the group stage of the Tokyo Paralympics, but will probably meet the Indonesians in the semi-finals and the final.
Athletes in the SU5 category have impairments in their upper limbs such as a missing thumb which restricts grip and power of the stroke or loss of an arm due to amputation or nerve damage.
Thursday’s draw put Cheah, World No. 5 Taiyo Imai of Japan, World No. 8 Fang Jen-Yu of Taiwan, and World No. 36 Ahmed Eldakrory of Egypt in Group B.
Dheva Anrimusthi, Suryo Nugroho, World No. 4 Bartlomiej Mroz of Poland, and World No. 6 Meril Loquette of France were drawn into Group A.
Another Malaysian Paralympics shuttler, World No. 7 Didin Taresoh who competes in the Short Stature 6 category (athletes who have achondroplasia and short stature), has been placed with World No. 2 Krishna Nagar of India, World No. 4 Vitor Goncalves Tavares of Brazil in Group B.
World No. 1 player in the Short Stature 6 category – Jack Shephard of England, World No. 3 Chu Man Kai of Hong Kong, and World No. 5 Krysten Coombs of England were selected into Group A.
The first group stage will be played on September 1. The top two winners of each group will advance to the semi-finals.
