Koen Pang, Izaac Quek become first S’poreans to reach table tennis Grand Smash s-finals

Koen Pang (left) and Izaac Quek are through to the Europe Smash men's doubles semi-finals, creating history as the first Singaporeans to reach the last four of a table tennis Grand Smash.

SINGAPORE – Despite falling in the early rounds of the Singapore Smash and United States Smash and dropping out of the world table tennis men’s doubles top 10, Koen Pang and Izaac Quek showed tremendous heart to pull off comeback wins and reach the semi-finals of the inaugural US$1.55 million (S$2 million) Europe Smash.

After enjoying a first-round bye, they beat Portuguese wildcards Marcos Freitas and Tiago Apolonia 3-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 3-11, 11-6) in the last 16 on Aug 20 and then China’s Liang Jingkun and Wen Ruibo 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 14-12, 4-11, 11-8) in the quarter-finals on Aug 21.

By doing so, the 14th-ranked duo became the first Singaporeans to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Smash, and will play another Chinese pair – men’s singles world No. 1 Lin Shidong and 47th-ranked Huang Youzheng – on Aug 22 for a place in the final at the Malmo Arena in Sweden.

Quek, a 19-year-old who plays for Anhui Zhongcheng alongside Wen in the China Table Tennis Super League, told The Straits Times: “Playing in the Chinese league definitely helped me get to know Wen Ruibo better as a teammate and opponent. We also play doubles matches together, so I know some of his tendencies.

“We played very well and weren’t scared of the Chinese opponents today, which was important for us to not give up and win the match today. We are very happy to reach the semi-finals, which we didn’t expect, and create history for Singapore.”

Liang and Wen are ranked fifth and 35th respectively in the men’s singles and while they are playing together for the first time in international competition, they eliminated Taiwanese men’s doubles world No. 4 Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui with a 3-2 win in the last 16.

Hence they were favourites against the 140th-ranked Pang and 147th-ranked Quek and duly took the first game.

However, the Singaporeans were unfazed and claimed the second game before saving five game points to win the third game 14-12.

Liang and Wen looked set for progress after easily winning the fourth game 11-4 and extending their advantage in the decider to 7-4 despite a timeout by their opponents.

But with their backs against the wall, the underdogs remarkably reeled off six straight points before completing the giant-killing act with their second match point.

Pang, 23, told ST: “We played very well after the first game and were very decisive during the tight moments, which contributed massively to our win today. We just had to be as calm as we can throughout the match and be decisive. I told myself to keep trying as long as each game is not over.

“The semi-final is going to be even harder, so we are going in with nothing to lose and aiming to play our best.”

The SEA Games champions have achieved some outstanding results in recent years, as they stunned China’s then world No. 1 Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng to reach the last four at the WTT Finals in 2024, the year they also won silver at the Asian championships. In January, they rose to a career-high fifth in the world.

Click here to read article