At senior level, Cheam reached three BWF World Tour Super 100 men's singles finals, finishing runners-up at the 2018 Dutch Open, 2022 Indonesia Masters and 2024 Kaohsiung Masters. He also won the men's singles titles at the 2018 Dutch International and 2019 Malaysia International.
Outside the BWF World Tour, Cheam has won five men's singles titles at the Lin Dan Cup, an invitational badminton competition associated with two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan. He won the Shenzhen and Macau editions in 2024, the Jincheng edition in 2025, and the Chenzhou and Jincheng editions in 2026. His fifth title, secured in August 2026, made him the second player after China's Zhao Junpeng to win five Lin Dan Cup championships.
Career
Cheam started playing badminton at aged 8 in Penang. As a junior player, he has been trained by Teh Peng Huat, the former coach of world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, for more than year before training under task Lim Theam Teow.
2012
In July, Cheam won the mixed team bronze medal at the Asia Junior Championships in Gimcheon, South Korea.
2014
In 2014, Cheam was promoted to join the national team from the Bukit Jalil Sports School. In March, he was the runner-up at German Junior. In August, he competed at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and clinched the mixed doubles title with his partner from Hong Kong, Ng Tsz Yau. In September, he finished as the runner-up at the 2014 Malaysia International Junior Championships.
2015
In February, Cheam competed at the Dutch Junior and was crowned the champion. He also entered the semi-final of German Junior in March and Indonesia Junior International in September.
2017–2018
In July 2017, Cheam entered his first senior tournament final at the Malaysia International but lost 19–21, 14–21 to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew.
In February 2018, Cheam became the runner-up at the Austrian Open. In April 2018, he fell to compatriot Leong Jun Hao at the Finnish Open final in three games. In the following week, he won his first senior title at the Dutch International. In October 2018, he entered his first BWF World Tour final at the Dutch Open and finished as runner-up.
2019–2020
In June 2019, Cheam lost out to compatriot Soong Joo Ven in the final of Malaysia International Series. In December 2019, he captured his second title at the Malaysia International Challenge beating Ren Pengbo in the final.
In September, he was selected as the second men's singles player for the Malaysian men's team that participated in the 2020 Thomas & Uber Cup. In November, he resigned from the national team after six years. In December, he made his debut at the 2021 BWF World Championships but lost in the first round to Kenta Nishimoto.
2022
In September, Cheam competed at the 2022 Vietnam Open but crashed out in the semi-final to Sun Feixiang. In October, he entered his second BWF World Tour final at the Indonesia Masters but lost to compatriot Leong Jun Hao in three games.
2024
In June, Cheam clinched the Lin Dan Cup, organised by the badminton legend himself after defeating China's Ren Chengming in straight sets. With the win, he pocketed a total of 200,000 yuan (approximately RM131,000) in prize money.
In September, Cheam defeated China's Zhou Ze Qi 14-21, 21-6, 21-16 to win the Lin Dan Cup for the second time in Macau.
2025
Cheam became the first to win the Lin Dan Cup three times in August, beating Wu Kai'an 11-15, 15-13, 15-9 in the final in Jincheng, China.
2026
Cheam reached the final of the Azerbaijan International in February. He suffered a hip injury and had to retire in the second game while trailing Poland's Dominik Kwinta 8-21, 1-8.
In June, Cheam missed out on another chance to clinch gold at the Phuket International Challenge after losing to Rei Miyashita from Japan in the rubber set (20-22, 21-14, 12-21).
Cheam won his fourth Lin Dan Cup in July after beating home favourite and former world No. 11 Zhao Jun Peng 15-13, 9-15, 15-13 in the final in Chenzhou, China. Cheam was down and out at 8-13 in the rubber game before scoring seven consecutive points to clinch the title once again. He extended his runs of success in Lin Dan Cup in Jincheng, China again by winning his fifth title, after beating Ren Chengming 15-11, 15-6 in the final on August 29.
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super1000, Super750, Super500, Super300, and the BWF Tour Super100.
↑Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
