Koen Pang, Izaac Quek bag silver at Asian Table Tennis Championships
Even as they were licking their wounds from their defeat in the Asian Table Tennis Championships final on Oct 12, Singapore’s Koen Pang and Izaac Quek had much to be proud of after ending the nation’s 11-year medal drought in the men’s doubles.
In the final at the Beeline Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan, world No. 15 pair Lim Jong-hoon and An Jae-hyun from South Korea proved too strong for 16th-ranked Pang and Quek, who were beaten 3-0 (6-11, 6-11, 6-11).
The last time Singapore won a men’s doubles medal at the continental event was in 2013, when Gaoning and Yangzi claimed bronze.
The women’s team have had more success at this competition – their last triumph was a team joint-bronze in 2021.
In Kazakhstan, Pang and Quek had an impressive run to the final, beating Thailand’s Sitisak Nichchart and Napat Thanmathikom in the round of 32, before dispatching India’s Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the last 16.
The reigning SEA Games champions then came from two games down to upset Japan’s world No. 12 Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima 3-2 (7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9), guaranteeing themselves a medal after booking their semi-final spot.
In the last four they faced familiar foes in Malaysia’s world No. 187 Javen Choong and Wong Qi Shen, the same opponents from the 2023 SEA Games final. The latter pair also staged an upset of their own by eliminating Chinese top-ranked pair Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong 3-2 (11-8, 2-11, 0-11, 11-8, 11-7) in the quarter-finals.
But Pang and Quek faced little trouble in their match against their Causeway rivals, needing just 20 minutes to set up their meeting with South Korea’s Lim and An.
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