Izaac Quek loses in Singapore Smash’s opening round, but wins hearts

SINGAPORE – Battling valiantly against world No. 16 Anton Kallberg, Singapore’s Izaac Quek fought tooth and nail before his challenge unravelled in a 3-1 (11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7) defeat in the men’s singles round of 64 at the Singapore Smash on Feb 2.

Even when it was clear that Kallberg had the upperhand, world No. 83 Quek held on defiantly and gave the crowd at the OCBC Arena’s Infinity Arena some moments to cheer about, momentarily rattling the 27-year-old Swede by clinching the second game and winning a rally that was played at blinding speed in the last game.

Constant shouts of “jiayou” (come on in Mandarin) were heard from about 500 spectators as they backed Quek to claim another scalp. Even though that did not happen, several fans sought autographs and wefies with the 18-year-old after the match, as he had won their hearts.

In front of his juniors, he had just given a live demonstration of what it means to never give up.

Lin Jia’an, who was one of over 100 young fans seated just behind Quek, said: “Even if he lost, I think he taught all of us an important lesson in fighting till the end. Even though he was losing, he kept going and kept fighting. I think the main (lesson) today is that to be a national team player, you must be resilient.” 

The 11-year-old, who is part of the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s junior development squad, hopes to make it to the national team one day, just like Quek.

Her teammate, Celestine Xiquan Fu Capati, 11, echoed her sentiments.

“The opponent was winning but Izaac was brave to keep trying to find a way to win points,” said Celestine, a Singapore Chinese Girls’ School pupil. “Even (Zhou) Jingyi was doing her best and trying till the end even if her opponent is too strong.”

World No. 153 Zhou had lost 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-4) to Japan’s fifth-ranked Hina Hayata in the women’s singles round of 64.

Since his senior debut in 2022, Quek has often been the highlight for local fans at the Singapore Smash. In the 2023 edition, he made a brilliant run to the round of 16. A year later, he partnered Koen Pang to reach the men’s doubles quarter-finals.

But Kallberg, who beat Quek 4-0 at the World Cup in Macau a year ago, proved too strong.

Yet what kept Quek going was the backing from the home crowd.

He said: “I was very shocked to walk in and see so many people and I’m really grateful for them. I definitely felt the cheering during the game and it spurred me on. There was not a point where I gave up, I think that I tried to fight for every point and I was quite unlucky that it didn’t turn the way I wanted it to.”

World No. 142 Pang, meanwhile, defeated India’s 59th-ranked Manav Thakkar 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8) in his opening match.

The 22-year-old Singaporean’s reward will be a round-of-32 tie on Feb 4 against world No. 1 and defending champion Wang Chuqin, who beat 29th-ranked Yukiya Uda of Japan 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-9).

Pang, who is left-handed like Wang, is looking to learn from the two-gold Olympic champion and Asian Games men’s singles gold medallist. He said: “I will just play my best, get some tips and pointers on how he plays against other left-handers.”

There was, however, disappointment later in the evening for Pang, when he and Zeng Jian lost in the mixed doubles round of 32. They went down 3-1 (9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-7) to Brazil’s Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi.

Pang and Quek are also in the men’s doubles competition, with the round of 32 starting on Feb 3.

In the women’s singles, Singapore’s Ser Lin Qian (144th) and Zeng (59th) suffered 3-0 losses to American Lily Zhang (45th) and seventh-ranked Satsuki Odo respectively.

In the mixed doubles, Mexican duo Marcos Madrid and Arantxa Cossio were 3-1 winners over Quek and Zhou while Singapore’s Clarence Chew and Ser also fought hard, but lost 3-2 to Japan’s Miyu Nagasaki and Hong Kong’s Yiu Kwan To.

There was a straightforward win for women’s singles defending champion and world No. 2 Wang Manyu, who beat Egypt’s 32nd-ranked Dina Meshref 3-0.

In the men’s singles, Romanian Iulian Chirita’s (No. 143) dream run at the tournament continued after the qualifier fought back from 0-2 down to knock out Slovenian No. 10 seed Darko Jorgic 3-2 (7-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8), while France’s world No. 5 Felix Lebrun beat Egypt’s Youssef Abdelaziz (64th) 3-0.