Koen Pang and Izaac Quek’s historic Europe Smash run ends with s-final loss

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Koen Pang (left) and Izaac Quek scoring an upset 3-2 win over Chinas Liang Jingkun and Wen Ruibo in the Europe Smash mens doubles quarter-final on Aug 21 to create history as the first Singaporeans to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Smash tournament.

PHOTO: WORLD TABLE TENNIS

SINGAPORE – Singapore pair Koen Pang and Izaac Quek’s inaugural Europe Smash campaign ended with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-7) loss to China’s Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng in the men’s doubles semi-finals on Aug 22.

But their historic run to the last four gives them confidence to defend their SEA Games table tennis men’s doubles gold in Thailand in December.

Pang, 23, told The Straits Times: “They controlled the game really well and we couldn’t get into the game. We played some nice points while being aggressive, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

“Overall, this result will give us confidence going into the SEA Games, after we won a few tight matches.”

At the Malmo Arena in Sweden, they produced comeback 3-2 wins against Portuguese wildcards Marcos Freitas and Tiago Apolonia in the last 16 on Aug 20 and then China’s men’s singles world No. 5 Liang Jingkun and 35th-ranked Wen Ruibo in the quarter-finals on Aug 21.

In doing so, the 14th-ranked duo became the first Singaporeans to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Smash