Singapore men’s doubles pair Izaac Quek and Koen Pang rise to career-high world No. 4

SINGAPORE – When Izaac Quek and Koen Pang were first paired up to compete in the men’s doubles in 2022, they never expected to be ranked among the top in the world.

But the duo have surprised themselves, notching several milestones on the international stage over the past few years.

Their most recent achievement came on Feb 11, when they climbed four rungs in the world rankings to reach a career-high fourth.

Calling it special, Pang said: “I never thought that this doubles with me and Izaac would actually get this far, so it’s really special being this highly ranked.

“We understand each other’s game very well because we’ve been training and playing together since 2022, so it’s easier for us to play well together.”

The best ranking by any Singaporean pair was attained by Gao Ning and Yang Zi, when they were world No. 1 in 2008.

While encouraged by their latest accomplishment, Quek was careful not to get carried away, noting that it took a lot of hard work to move up the rankings.

“It brings us a lot of confidence. We know that we are getting stronger in doubles and the achievements show that,” said the 19-year-old, who also received the Moo Soon Chong Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year (Post-Secondary) Award at the Singapore Sports School Awards Night on Feb 11.

“We wouldn’t have thought that we would be the fourth-best pair in the world, but this just shows the ranking is just a ranking and we still have much more to achieve in competitions.”

Since they began playing together, they have obtained some impressive results.

They have claimed successive men’s doubles titles at the SEA Games and clinched silver at the 2024 Asian championships.

Pang and Quek have also recorded upsets over higher-ranked opponents, including a victory over China’s then world No. 1 Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng at the WTT Finals 2024 en route to finishing in the last four.

They also became the first Singaporeans to reach a Grand Smash semi-final at the inaugural Europe Smash in Sweden in August 2025.

On what makes their partnership work, Quek said: “We have a lot of trust in each other and we’re very open to feedback.

“If we lose a match and Koen tells me I’m not doing this well or something I’m doing is uncomfortable for him, I’ll just take it that he wants us to improve as a pair.”

But Pang stressed that staying among the top in the rankings will not be easy.

The 23-year-old said: “The higher you climb, the more people are going to be more aggressive against you.

“So trying to maintain this ranking will definitely not be easy, because we have a lot of ranking points to defend now.

“We must take it step by step and try to fight for every match and get further in major competitions.”

This comes in a crucial year, with the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games taking place from Sept 19 to Oct 4.

At the previous Asiad in 2023, Pang and Quek bowed out in the men’s doubles round of 16, following a 11-3, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11 loss to India’s Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar, who are now world No. 5 after climbing two rungs.

They are hoping their ranking and experience will help them make a deeper run this time.

Quek admitted that they have a target on their backs now, with opponents even more eager to gun them down, starting with the Feb 19-March 1 Singapore Smash at the OCBC Arena.

“Last time, we didn’t really come up in their heads,” he said.

“It’s a good thing for us because it shows we’ve improved as a pair but we also cannot see it as a burden to us and be scared to play matches.

“We will try to take the same mindset of being the underdogs, but also as a title contender for the Asian Games.”