Young guns Izaac Quek, 18 and Koen Pang, 22, have clinched Singapore’s first medal in Men’s Doubles after 11 years, winning silver in the event at the Asian Table Tennis Championships at the Beeline Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The Singaporean pair lost to the World No.15 pair of Lim Jong-hoon and Ahn Jae-Hyun of South Korea, 6-11, 6-11, 6-11 in the final.

Despite that defeat, they ended the Republic’s medal drought in Men’s Doubles, with the last medal coming in 2013, when current Men’s national head coach, Gao Ning, won the bronze with partner Yang Zi in Busan.

On the final, Quek said: “The opponents are really strong but I think we did have our chances to make the score even closer. We tried our best and gave it our all and I think overall we are still satisfied with the result.”

Pang added: “The final was a tough match to begin with. They are both highly ranked players and we have played one or two times before so they will be quite familiar with our game. They prepared well and so we couldn’t find a way through.”

The reigning SEA Games champions run to the final included a come from behind victory to upset Japan’s world No. 12 Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima 3-2 (7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9) in the quarterfinals to book their last-four spot, securing a medal in the process.

In the last four, they faced familiar foes in Malaysia’s world No. 187 Javen Choong and Wong Qi Shen, the same opponents from the 2023 SEA Games final which the Singaporeans won 3-1. But Pang and Quek faced little trouble against their Causeway rivals, needing just 20 minutes to clinch their final spot after a 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-5) win setting up their match against Lim and Ahn.

While the South Koreans prevailed in 21 minutes, Pang and Quek felt encouraged by their podium finish, becoming the first local born pair to do so.

Pang said: “This medal means a lot to me as Asia is a powerhouse in table tennis and being able to win a medal in this competition is a very good accomplishment.”

Quek said: “Getting an Asian championship medal was definitely not what I was expecting before coming here. My goal was just to play my best and learn from all the competition experience.

“Getting an Asian championships silver medal just gives me more motivation to work harder and shows that Koen and me as a pair are improving towards the right direction.”