S’pore pair Koen Pang and Izaac Quek’s fairy-tale run ends in semi-finals of World Table Tennis Finals
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Singapore's 10th-ranked men's doubles pair Koen Pang (left) and Izaac Quek taking on Japan’s world No. 6 Shunsuke Togami and Hiroto Shinozuka in the WTT Finals semi-finals on Nov 22.
PHOTO: WORLD TABLE TENNIS
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SINGAPORE – Their fairy-tale run at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals may have ended, but the partnership of Koen Pang and Izaac Quek promises more exciting chapters, with Pang seeing “a lot of room for improvement”.
On Nov 22, the Singaporean duo lost 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 to world No. 6 Shunsuke Togami and Hiroto Shinozuka in the men’s doubles semi-finals of the US$700,000 (S$944,000) season-ending tournament in Fukuoka, Japan.
The home favourites will play world No. 2 Alexis and Felix Lebrun in the final on Nov 23. The French siblings beat teammates Florian Bourrassaud and Esteban Dorr 12-10, 11-6, 11-3 in the other semi-final.
Earlier, world No. 10 Pang and Quek had created a seismic shock at the Kitakyushu General Gymnasium when they swept China’s world No. 1 and defending champions Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng
However, they were not able to repeat their giant-slaying feat despite a rousing start in which they led 6-0 in the opener.
Pang impressed with his fluid strokes while Quek also pulled off lovely blocks. But after they came back from 2-7 down in the second game to lead 8-7, the Japanese duo rallied to take control and win the second and third games.
The fourth game was tight with both pairs trading leads until 6-6 before Togami and Shinozuka ran away with the last five points.
Despite the loss, Pang, 22, said: “This was definitely a good campaign overall as we played really well and beat the world No. 1 (pair), but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
“The plan going into the match was to be aggressive and make the points as close as possible or to pull away so that they will get nervous.
“However, we made a few mistakes and they made some good shots, which ultimately made the difference.”
Since they began their partnership in 2022, Pang and Quek have grown from strength to strength, winning 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. They qualified for the WTT Finals as the seventh highest-ranked partnership among eight eligible pairs.
This is their second outing at the tournament after the 2023 edition in Doha, Qatar, where the duo – the first local-born Singaporeans to compete in the event – lost 3-0 to the Lebrun brothers in the first round.
National men’s team coach Gao Ning affirmed Pang and Quek’s abilities and performances, adding that the Singapore Table Tennis Association will continue to develop the pair in 2025.
Before the event was rebranded as the WTT Finals, the Republic had performed admirably in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Grand Finals.
In addition to previous medals, Gao and Yang Zi claimed the men’s doubles crown, while Li Jiawei and Sun Beibei were the women’s doubles champions in Macau in 2008. Two years later in South Korea, Feng Tianwei won the women’s singles title.
Feng then teamed up with Yu Mengyu for the women’s doubles gold in 2012 in China, where Gao and Li Hu won the men’s doubles title, which they retained in the United Arab Emirates the following year.
Playing in the WTT Finals had meant that Pang and Quek could not join their teammates at the Nov 19-24 South-east Asian Table Tennis Championships in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
But after picking up his share of the US$4,250 prize money for making the semi-finals, Quek is set for a whirlwind week as he is also pencilled in for the Nov 22-29 ITTF World Youth Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden.
“Playing in this WTT Finals gives me more confidence and I learnt quite a lot of things playing against the best players in the world and also watching them train,” Quek said. “This would help me in preparing for my games in the World Youth Championships.”
The 18-year-old, who won silvers in the U-19 boys’ doubles with Japan’s Sora Matsushima and the U-19 mixed doubles with Germany’s Annett Kaufmann in the 2023 edition, will also be playing in three events this time. He lost to China’s eventual quadruple champion Lin Shidong in the U-19 boys’ singles last 16 in 2023.
He will partner compatriot Ser Lin Qian in the Under-19 mixed doubles from Nov 24, and team up with Romania’s Darius Movileanu in the U-19 boys’ doubles from Nov 25, with the singles starting two days later.
“I will partner Romanian Darius Movileanu in the boys’ doubles and he is a left-hander, so there will be some similarities with Koen,” Quek said. “I have also trained with Lin Qian quite a bit before the WTT Finals for our mixed doubles, but I’m not sure if I will miss our match as it’s scheduled for 11am and I will reach the airport only at 6am.”
