SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Izaac Quek will get his chance to relive his “favourite memory” of 2023, when he returns to the Singapore Sports Hub for the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash 2024 from March 7 to 17.
In a career milestone, the teenager had a brilliant run to the round of 16 in the last edition, first stunning India’s Commonwealth Games champion and world No. 52 Sharath Kamal Achanta, before beating Sweden’s 2019 World Championships silver medallist and 32nd-ranked Mattias Falck. He was eventually defeated by China’s world No. 3 Wang Chuqin in straight games.
Izaac, 17, and compatriots Koen Pang (men’s singles), Zeng Jian and Zhou Jingyi (women’s singles) have been handed wild cards to the main draw of US$1.5 million (S$2 million) tournament, which will also feature some of the sport’s biggest stars like men’s and women’s singles world No. 1s Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha of China.
Ranked 55th in the world, Izaac is looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd again. He said: “I was really happy with my performance last year and I am super excited to be playing Singapore Smash again.
“Last year was the most memorable for me. Because not only did I beat two really strong opponents whom I didn’t think I’d beat, but I also did it in front of the home crowd. So I think definitely the crowd is what makes this tournament so exciting for me.”
He is in Japan for a training camp to prepare for the World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea, from Feb 16 to 25.
Looking ahead to 2024, he said: “I definitely want to qualify for the Olympics. There are still a lot of chances left for me, many WTT competitions, qualifying events.
“But I think I’ll just take it step by step and try not to focus on the end goal.”
Chinese pair Fan and Sun will be on the hunt for golds again, with Fan targeting a Singapore Smash three-peat after winning the men’s crown in 2022 and 2023 – he also won the men’s doubles in 2023 – while the latter clinched a hat-trick (women’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles) the last time.
Table tennis fans will also be on the lookout for French teenager and world No. 6 Felix Lebrun, who won the WTT Star Contender Goa in January, as well as German icon Timo Boll (No. 44), Brazil’s Hugo Calderano (No. 7), Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto (No. 9) and Lin Yun-ju of Chinese Taipei (No. 8).
In the women’s field, Sun will be out to maintain her nine-match winning streak in Singapore, having clinched titles at the WTT Finals Women Nagoya in December and the WTT Star Contender Doha a month later.
She will face stiff competition from 2022 champion and Olympic gold medallist Chen Meng (No. 3), as well as four-time WTT Series winner Hina Hayata (No. 5) of Japan.
Emerging talent Miwa Harimoto, 15, will make her Singapore Smash debut alongside other names such as South Korea’s eighth-ranked Shin Yu-bin, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz (No. 12) and Romania’s Bernadette Szocs (No. 13).
Qualifying rounds will be held at the OCBC Arena from March 7 to 9, with the main draw starting on March 10 and the singles finals contested on the final day.
WTT Singapore Smash tickets are available at https://premier.ticketek.com.sg/shows/show.aspx?sh=WTT24 with prices starting from $15 for general admission.
