SINGAPORE – Izaac Quek’s fairy-tale run at the Singapore Smash ended on Wednesday, as a 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-7) defeat by China’s third-ranked Wang Chuqin showed him there is still plenty of work to do if he is to become a truly world-class player.
In the earlier rounds, the 16-year-old had rallied from 2-0 down to beat Sweden’s world No. 36 and men’s doubles world champion Mattias Falck 3-2, after sweeping India’s 51st-ranked Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal Achanta 3-0.
But even playing at the OCBC Arena in front of local fans that included 250 players from the Singapore Table Tennis Association’s junior development squad, 22-year-old Wang demonstrated how he is of a different level. This was evident by the fact Izaac struggled to find clear winners, managing to earn points mainly off his opponent’s errors.
Izaac never led in the first or second game, trailing by as many as seven and five points respectively.
The world No. 241 said: “Usually, my service against left-handers are not bad, but I couldn’t find a way past him as he is already used to different spins and services training with the best players in China and has very high shot quality.
“In the third game, I decided to play more rallies because his short game is definitely better than mine. I tried different strategies but there was still no way for way to win, which proves I’m still not strong enough and have to continue to work hard to improve.”
Nevertheless, the past week has given the fraternity a glimpse of Izaac’s potential. Earlier in the day, he and Koen Pang had combined as the world No. 200 men’s doubles pair, manfully taking a game off China’s fourth-ranked Fan Zhendong and Wang before losing 3-1 (11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6) in the round of 16.
Both Singaporeans are also projected to become the first local-born players to crack the top 100 of the men’s singles world rankings next Tuesday.
Wang, who will play compatriot and world No. 12 Lin Gaoyuan in the quarter-finals, also had kind words for Izaac. He said: “He is a promising local player and beating some of the top players to reach the top 16 at such a high-level event will be good for his development.”
There will be no time for Izaac to catch his breath though, as he is heading to Turkey for the March 19-25 WTT Youth Contender Antalya and March 27-April 1 WTT Feeder Antalya events. He has also made the national men’s team that will compete at the May 5-17 SEA Games in Cambodia.
Said Izaac: “Many people have congratulated me and I appreciate the support from Singaporeans, but I know I still have a lot to improve on in terms of technique and variety and I hope I can play more of such high-level matches to learn from the best.”
His men’s singles exploits netted him a cool US$15,000 (S$20,300), while he will also split the US$2,000 winnings from the men’s doubles. But the down-to-earth Singapore Sports School student has not thought about how to use it, and said: “I’m still young, so I’ll just save it and use it another time.”
