Singapore’s Koen Pang and Izaac Quek clinch men’s doubles silver at Asian Table Tennis Championships

SINGAPORE – Even though they were defeated in the Asian Table Tennis Championships final on Oct 12, Singapore’s Koen Pang and Izaac Quek had much to be proud of after ending the nation’s 11-year medal drought in the men’s doubles.

In the final at the Beeline Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan, world No. 15 pair Lim Jong-hoon and An Jae-hyun from South Korea proved too strong for 16th-ranked Pang and Quek, who lost 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6).

The last time Singapore won a men’s doubles medal at the continental event was in 2013, when Gao Ning and Yang Zi took bronze in their title defence in Busan.

On the final, Quek, 18, said: “The opponents are really strong but I think we did have our chances to make the score even closer. We tried our best and gave it our all and I think overall we are still satisfied with the result.”

Lim – who had won back-to-back silvers at the past two world championships with compatriot Jang Woo-jin – and An wasted no time against the Singaporeans, clinching the first game 11-6.

When they returned to the court, things were neck-and-neck, with the Singaporeans taking a brief lead at 4-3.

But with the score at 6-6, the South Koreans began to pull away and secured the second game.

It was a similar situation in the third, as Lim and An stamped their dominance after the first few points were exchanged and never relinquished the lead.

Pang said: “The final was a tough match to begin with. They are both highly ranked players and we have played one or two times before so they will be quite familiar with our game. They prepared well and so we couldn’t find a way through.”

Although the 22-year-old had experienced some discomfort in his arm, he endured the pain by telling himself that this was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.

He said: “This medal means a lot to me as Asia is a powerhouse in table tennis and being able to win a medal in this competition is a very good accomplishment.”

Pang and Quek had an impressive run to the final, beating Thailand’s Sitisak Nuchchart and Napat Thanmathikom in the round of 32, before dispatching India’s Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the last 16.

The reigning SEA Games champions then came back from two games down to upset Japan’s world No. 12 Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima 3-2 (7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9) to book their last-four spot, securing a medal in the process.

In the last four, they faced familiar foes in Malaysia’s world No. 187 Javen Choong and Wong Qi Shen, the same opponents from the 2023 SEA Games final which the Singaporeans won 3-1. The latter pair also staged an upset of their own by eliminating Chinese top-ranked pair Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong 3-2 (11-8, 2-11, 0-11, 11-8, 11-7) in the quarter-finals.

But Pang and Quek faced little trouble against their Causeway rivals, needing just 20 minutes to clinch their final spot after a 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-5) win.

While the South Koreans prevailed in 21 minutes, Pang and Quek felt encouraged by their podium finish.

Quek said: “Getting an Asian championship medal was definitely not what I was expecting before coming here. My goal was just to play my best and learn from all the competition experience.

“Getting an Asian championships silver medal just gives me more motivation to work harder and shows that Koen and me as a pair are improving towards the right direction.” 

Pang added: “It was definitely a good experience, being able to play against top players and putting up some good results definitely will give me some motivation to work harder and get more results in the future.”

Pang and Quek had earlier made it to the men’s singles round of 32, before they were knocked out by South Korea’s Oh Jun-sung and Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko respectively.

World No. 105 Pang lost 3-2 (8-11, 11-2, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8) to 34th-ranked Oh, while world No. 84 Quek was beaten 3-1 (11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8) by 41st-ranked Gerassimenko.

Other notable results from the Singaporeans included a quarter-final run for unranked women’s doubles pair Tan Zhao Yun and Zhang Wanling, who were beaten 3-1 (11-1, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5) by Japanese world No. 33 Miwa Harimoto and Miyuu Kihara.

They had received a walkover from China’s world No. 6 duo Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi in the last 32.

Pang and Ser Lin Qian also made it to the last 16 of the mixed doubles, but were eliminated by world No. 2 pair Lim and Shin Yu-bin 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7).

The Singapore men beat Saudi Arabia 3-1 to finish ninth out of 22 teams, while the women lost 3-0 to eventual champions Japan in the quarter-finals.