ABU Samah Borhan is just 24 hours away from realising his dream of not one but two gold medals in the ASEAN Para Games wheelchair tennis competition at the National Tennis Centre on Thursday (Sept 21).
The 32-year-old Abu Samah, who became paralysed waist down following a road accident in 2006, is hoping to break his gold medal drought in the Para Games in front of home fans. It was in 2011 that Malaysia last won gold in the Para Games wheelchair category.
Ranked 46 in the world, the Selangor-born Abu Sabah will go head to head against Thailand’s Suthi Khlongrua, who is placed 43, in the final on Thursday morning and later in the afternoon teams up with Ariffahmi Zaquan Ariffin in the doubles final encounter against Suthi Khlongrua-Wittaya Peemee.
The Malaysian pair lost 3-6, 5-7 to Suthi-Wittaya in their last round robin match on Wednesday. However, despite the defeat the combination of Abu Samah and Ariffahmi finished second in the round robin league behind the Thais and will meet each other again in the final to decide the gold.
Abu Samah and Ariffahmi had on Tuesday defeated the Thai pair of Bonjob Suwan-Sunthorn Sridaeng 6-1, 6-3 in a match that lasted 42 minutes.
A third gold medal is also in the pipeline for Malaysia when Azman Hasan qualified for the final of the ‘quad singles’ following a 6-0, 6-2 win over Nattaporn Taosrisakul of Thailand. He is scheduled to meet Sombut Yampapha, another Thai, for the gold medal.
Malaysia, however, won a bronze medal through the doubles pair of Mohd Yusshazwan Yusoff-Mohd Firdaus Ibrahim 7-5, 6-4 victory over Bonjob Suwan-Sunthorn Sridaeng of Thailand in an encounter that lasted 49 minutes.
