Local table tennis players face tough draw at Singapore Smash
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Singapore's seventh-ranked doubles pair Izaac Quek and Koen Pang will look to better their quarter-final finish in 2024.
PHOTO: WORLD TABLE TENNIS
SINGAPORE – The Singapore Smash has been a table tennis tournament where Izaac Quek achieved breakthroughs, with the teenager notching notable results in the last two editions.
If the world No. 83 is to make waves for a third consecutive year, he will need to reprise his giant-killing feats. He was drawn to face the 15th-ranked Anton Kallberg in the opening round of 64 of the competition, which is from Feb 2 to 9 at the OCBC Arena.
After the draw on Jan 31, the 18-year-old Quek said: “I played Anton once at the World Cup (Macau 2024) and lost 4-0. I’ll be reviewing that match to see what went wrong and where I can improve.
“I’m really looking forward to having my whole family and friends supporting me.
“This is the only event of the year so far where I’ll have such a big crowd behind me, and that gives me extra confidence.”
With the home crowd cheering him on, the teenager reached the last 16 in 2023 after defeating Sweden’s 2019 world championships runner-up Mattias Falck and India’s Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Achanta.
In 2024, he made it to the men’s doubles quarter-finals with Koen Pang.
Like Quek, his teammates Pang, Clarence Chew, Zhou Jingyi, Ser Lin Qian and Zeng Jian all received wild cards into the singles round of 64.
They could be joined by world No. 250 Loy Ming Ying, who reached the final round of the women’s singles qualifying after defeating two top-100 players.
The 14-year-old stunned Turkey’s 96th-ranked Sibel Altinkaya 3-2 and India’s world No. 74 Ayhika Mukherjee 3-0.
She takes on Romania’s Adina Diaconu (89th) on Feb 1 for a place in the main draw.
If 142nd-ranked Pang overcomes his first-round opponent, who will be a qualifier, he will likely face defending champion and world No. 1 Wang Chuqin, who will take on 29th-ranked Yukiya Uda of Japan in his opening match.
Chew, who is ranked 170th, will meet China’s world No. 4 Liang Jingkun.
In the women’s singles, Zeng (59th) and Zhou (153rd) will face tough Japanese opponents in seventh-ranked Satsuki Odo and world No. 5 Hina Hayata respectively.
Lily Zhang (45th) of the United States awaits Ser (144th).
In the men’s doubles, world No. 7 Pang and Quek received a bye in the opening round and will face either the pairing of Edward Ly and Gustavo Gomez or Chinese Taipei duo Kao Cheng-jui and Lin Yun-ju in the round of 16.
Chew and Josh Chua will face fellow wild cards and compatriots Yang Ze Yi and Nicholas Tan.
In the women’s doubles, Singaporean wild cards Loy and Ser will face a pair comprising Australia’s Liu Yangzi and Germany’s Sabine Winter, while Zhou and Zeng will take on Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz and France’s Prithika Pavade.
In the mixed doubles, world No. 40 Quek and Zhou will face Mexico’s 96th-ranked Marcos Madrid and Arantxa Cossio. Pang and Zeng will take on Brazil’s 30th-ranked Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi, while wild cards Chew and Ser will meet Hong Kong’s Yiu Kwan To and Japan’s Miyu Nagasaki.
While Olympic champions Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng are not in the US$1.5 million (S$2.03 million) tournament after withdrawing from the International Table Tennis Federation world rankings in December, most of the world’s top-ranked players will be in action.
France’s Felix and Alexis Lebrun will be looking to improve on last year’s showing, where they reached the men’s doubles quarter-finals.
Younger brother Felix, 18, was also a men’s singles semi-finalist.
The other top names include Japan’s world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto, Brazil’s sixth-ranked Calderano and Sweden’s seventh-ranked Truls Moregard, the Paris Olympics silver medallist.
In the women’s singles, while world No. 2 Wang Manyu will be defending her title, she will be well aware of the challenge from the tough field, including top-ranked teammate Sun Yingsha, who will be seeking to regain her crown.
Wang faces Egypt’s 32nd-ranked Dina Meshref, while Sun will meet South Korea world No. 21 Suh Hyo-won in the opening round.
For tickets to the Singapore Smash, visit singaporesmash.com
Melvyn Teoh is a sports journalist at The Straits Times.
