Izaac Quek named Star Player of the Year at Singapore Table Tennis Association’s annual awards

SINGAPORE – Teenagers Izaac Quek and Zhou Jingyi were the biggest winners on Singapore table tennis’ biggest night, with the duo named Star Player of the Year and Youth Player of the Year respectively at the association’s annual awards ceremony on May 28.

At only 18, Quek has already made an impact in his fledgling table tennis career.

The world No. 87’s achievements in 2023 include

three golds at the Cambodia SEA Games and

the mixed doubles gold

at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Feeder Antalya.

He also bagged silver in the boys’ Under-19 doubles and mixed doubles at the 2023 ITTF World Youth Championships in Slovenia.

Quek said: “There’ll be more tournaments coming up this year and with the Olympics, this (award) gives me even more motivation to work harder and get better results.”

Held at the Jia He Grand restaurant, the event, which was attended by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth Eric Chua, honoured the contributions and successes of the table tennis community in 2023.

It has been quite the journey for Quek since he became the first Singaporean to rise to the top of the Under-15 boys’ world ranking in 2021.

He went on to make his major Games debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he was a part of the men’s team who won silver in Birmingham.

Then came a stellar 2023 in which he also claimed the scalps of higher-ranked opponents such as Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal Achanta and former world championships silver medallist Mattias Falck at the Singapore Smash.

However, he also noted that in the second half of the year, matches became tougher as his opponents began to analyse his game.

But it was a learning experience for the teen, who will be

making his Olympic debut

at the July 26-Aug 11 Paris Games after qualifying earlier in May, as it “made me realise there are a lot of ups and downs as an athlete”.

Like Quek, the journey was also not all smooth sailing for Zhou, 19, who picked up her second consecutive Youth Player of the Year award.

In a hectic year that featured the SEA Games and Asian Games, Zhou had to deal with multiple injuries.

Now, the world No. 118 finds herself in a favourable position to join Quek and Zeng Jian in Paris based on her ranking in Asia, although her spot will only be determined on June 11.

“It (2023) wasn’t the best but I learnt through all these competitions and matured a lot,” said Zhou, who snagged the

women’s doubles silver and team bronze at the SEA Games

, alongside several golds at WTT tournaments.

“I’m glad that I managed to push through it.”

Singapore Table Tennis Association president Poh Li San said the accomplishments of young players like Quek and Zhou is an encouraging sign that its programmes are reaping results.

Acknowledging the work of her predecessors, she added: “We see young talents like (Loy) Ming Ying coming through the pipeline, so we know that the approach is correct.

“We’ve spotted talents, now our job is to find more of these talents and convince them and their parents that this is the path to take.”