SINGAPORE: They came into the , World Table Tennis ( WTT ) Finals without any expectations, and that seems to have done the trick for Singapore’s Izaac Quek and Koen Pang, as they notched a stunning upset , on Wednesday ( Nov 20 ).
The youthful pair beat China’s world number one piece of , Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng in the people’s double quarter-finals at the , WTT Finals in Fukuoka, Japan.
At the , Kitakyushu General Gymnasium, Quek and Pang took the win against Yuan and Xiang , – the defending champions , – 11-6, 11-6, 11-9. They will next face either Japan’s Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami or China’s Lin Shidong and Lin Gaoyuan in the semis of the , US$ 700, 000 ( S$ 939, 000 ) event.
” It surely feels wonderful. I did n’t expect to come to win any matches here to be honest, and especially since they are last year’s champions… I was only coming in without any anticipations”, Pang said after the fit.
“(Koen and I ) discussed and we said: ‘ Okay, this try to get one set primary,'” said Quek.
” I think it was all a process. We did n’t have any expectations. So I think that’s why we got the win today”, he added.
Eighteen-year-old Quek and 22-year-old Pang are ranked eighth in the current universe ranking.
Next month, the couple took gold in the people’s double at the Asian Table Tennis Championships.  , Quek and Pang are also the reigning people’s double SEA Games metal medallists.
Quek became the youngest table tennis player to compete at a Games earlier this year and made his Olympic debut in the female’s songs.