S'PORE'S SENSATIONAL SWEEP

Pang, Quek defeat No. l duo in straight games to progress to WTT Finals last four

- David Lee

They had never won a match, or a game, at the prestigious season-ending World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals, and they were up against China's world No. 1 and defending champions Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng in the opening round.

Before the match, Izaac Quek joked with his partner Koen Pang, saying: "Let's try to get one game to improve on our result last year."

The 10th-ranked Singaporeans did that and more, as they claimed the biggest scalp of their men's doubles career with a stunning 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, ]1-9) win at the Kitakyushu General Gymnasium in Fukuoka, Iapan on Nov 20 to advance to the last four.

In the Nov 22 semi-finals, they will face home favourites and sixth-ranked Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami, who also won 3-0 (]1-8, 11-6, 11-7) against world No. 3 Lin Gaoyuan and Lin Shidong.

Pang, 22, told The Straits Times: "It feels great to be able to take down the top seeds and defending champions as we didn't expect this at all.

"Our mentality and approach going into this game was to be aggressive from the start, play without pressure and have fun."

Without the weight of expectations, Pang and Quek settled down quicker as they took down the first game without trailing.