PANG, QUEK RISE TO NO. 10

Career-high ranking a confidence boost as duo make it to WTT Finals again

- David Lee

Following their surprise Asian Table Tennis Championships men's doubles silver medal on Oct 12, Koen Pang and Izaac Quek had more reasons to celebrate as they rose to a career-high world No. 10 and qualified for the World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals again.

The duo will play in the Nov 20-24 event in Fukuoka, Japan, as the seventh highest-ranked partnership among eight pairs. They were the first local-born Singaporeans to feature in the tournament when they lost 3-0 to French brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun in the first round of the 2023 edition in Doha, Qatar, in January.

To feature among the world's elite reaffirms Pang's belief in himself as he works towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. He had narrowly missed out on qualifying for Paris 2024 in the mixed doubles with Wong Xin Ru and in the men's singles.

Pang, 22, told The Straits Times: "This does not make up for the disappointment of missing out on the Olympics, but gives me some confidence in myself to push for LA 2028.

"Izaac and I have a lot of chemistry between us. But there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially when we get into the rallies. My target going into Fukuoka is to have fun and play the best table tennis I can."