Koen Pang, Izaac Quek stun China’s world No. 1 pair to reach WTT Finals men’s doubles s-finals

SINGAPORE – They had never won a match, or a game, at the prestigious season-ending World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals, and they were up against China’s world No. 1 and defending champions Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng in the opening round.

Before the match, Izaac Quek joked with his partner Koen Pang, saying: “Let’s try to get one game to improve on our result last year.”

The 10th-ranked Singaporeans did that and more, as they claimed the biggest scalp of their men’s doubles career with a stunning 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9) win at the Kitakyushu General Gymnasium in Fukuoka, Japan on Nov 20 to advance to the last four.

In the Nov 22 semi-finals, they will face home favourites and sixth-ranked Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami, who also won 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-7) against world No. 3 Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong, for a place in the final the following day.

Pang, 22, told The Straits Times: “It feels great to be able to take down the top seeds and defending champions as we didn’t expect this at all.

“Our mentality and approach going into this game was to be aggressive from the start, play without pressure and have fun.”

Without the weight of expectations, Pang and Quek settled down quicker as they took down the first game without trailing.

Surprisingly, their opponents could not work their way back in the second game, which they lost by the same score as left-hander Yuan was off-colour with several uncharacteristic unforced errors on his preferred forehand attack.

With the win in sight, the Singaporeans seemed anxious to close out the match, only for the Chinese to step up their tempo and lead 6-0 in the third game.

But the underdogs staged a remarkable rally to reel in seven of the next eight points before completing the sweep in 21 minutes after Yuan’s backhand went long.

Quek, 18, said: “From the first point, we felt they were quite nervous and were not on their ‘A’ game, so we tried to take advantage of that and play confidently.

“We made some errors and trailed 0-6 in the third game. But we didn’t change our approach from the first two games.

“We still tried to attack when we could, put them on the back foot and we did very well to change our tactics according to their adaptations.

“We will try to have the same mentality for the semi-final – take it match by match, game by game, try to get one game, play as best as we can and leave no regrets at the table.”

Since they began their partnership in 2022, Pang and Quek have grown from strength to strength, as they won the men’s doubles gold at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

They also reached the round of 16 and quarter-finals of the 2023 and 2024 Singapore Smash respectively, losing to China’s defending champions Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin on both occasions.

On Oct 12, they secured a surprise Asian Table Tennis Championships men’s doubles silver medal and rose to a career-high world No. 10 and qualified for the WTT Finals as the seventh highest-ranked partnership among eight eligible pairs.

They were the first local-born Singaporeans to feature in the tournament when they lost 3-0 to French brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun in the first round of the 2023 edition in Doha, Qatar, in January.

After their win over the Chinese pair, national men’s coach Gao Ning said: “Koen and Izaac played to a very high level and were able to read their opponents very well today.

“Their service, returns and rallies were excellent, and they managed to restrict the opponents’ attacks.

“It is a pleasant surprise for them to record such a convincing win over formidable rivals.”

Powerhouses China had a bad day at the office as five of their seven entries were eliminated at the first hurdle. 

There were more shocks as women’s doubles top seeds and world No. 2 Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin of South Korea lost 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-6) to Japan’s fifth-ranked Satsuki Odo and Sakura Yokoi in the quarter-finals, while German Benedikt Duda edged out French third seed Felix Lebrun 3-2 (9-11, 11-6, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9) in the men’s singles last 16.

Meanwhile at the Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championships in Thailand, Singapore’s women’s team of Zeng Jian, Ser Lin Qian, Loy Ming Ying, Tan Zhao Yun and Zhang Wanling beat Malaysia 3-0 in the semi-finals on Nov 20, to progress to the Nov 21 final where they will face the hosts.

The men’s team, comprising Josh Chua, Nicholas Tan, Yang Ze Yi, Ellsworth Le and Jaryl Wong, settled for bronze after they lost 3-1 to Thailand in their semi-final.