Latest news with #WorldTableTennis
RTHK
3 days ago
- Sport
- RTHK
Paddlers Wong, Chan win first men's doubles title
Paddlers Wong, Chan win first men's doubles title Wong Chun-ting and Baldwin Chan win gold in Zagreb. Photo courtesy of World Table Tennis Hong Kong, China paddlers Wong Chun-ting and Baldwin Chan on Sunday earned their first men's doubles title with victory in the World Table Tennis Contender Zagreb tournament in Croatia. Wong, 33, and Chan, 20, faced a tough battle against the mainland duo of Huang Youzheng and Xue Fei before prevailing in a five-game thriller. The SAR duo started aggressively in the first game, taking the first game 11-8 after building an early lead. Huang and Xue fought back to take the second game 12-10, taking advantage of a series of errors. The momentum kept shifting and the match went to a fifth game, which proved to be as tight as the rest of the contest. Down 9-10 in the deciding game, Wong and Chan won three points in a row to clinch the match and the championship with a 11-8,10-12,11-8,11-13,12-10 victory.
AsiaOne
23-06-2025
- Sport
- AsiaOne
Izaac Quek becomes first local-born Singapore player to join China Table Tennis Super League, Singapore News
SINGAPORE — Featuring China's best current players, up-and-coming starlets and retired legends, the China Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) is widely regarded as the sport's most competitive league. And Izaac Quek is hoping his stint with Anhui Zhongcheng will help take his game to the next level after becoming the first local-born Singapore player to join the CTTSL. He will follow in the footsteps of China-born Singaporeans such as Feng Tianwei and current national men's team coach Gao Ning to play in the prestigious tournament, the standard of which is seen by some as comparable to the world championships. While his club comprise relatively unheralded players such as 34th-ranked Wen Ruibo, Ning Xiankun (133rd) and Niu Guankai (175th), Quek will get the chance to pit his skills against the world's top two players Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin, as well as Olympic champions such as Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin, who no longer compete on the World Table Tennis circuit. The 19-year-old, who has played in leagues in India, France and Spain, told The Straits Times: "This is the best league in the world and not everyone gets to play in it, so I want to make full use of this stint to learn as much as I can from the best players in the world. "Wen is 18 and I kept in touch with him after previous competitions, and I'm also looking forward to test myself against Fan, whom I have not played against. I've heard there will be two team matches in a day for four days in a row, so I have to get myself physically ready for this challenge." Quek missed the June 6-10 first stage of the competition in Hebei as he was helping Dabang Delhi to a top-four finish in India's Ultimate Table Tennis from May 29 to June 15. He will make his CTTSL debut in the July 25-28 second stage in Fujian before the Aug 29-Sept 1 third stage in Xinjiang. Anhui Zhongcheng are currently sixth out of nine teams, with the top four sides advancing to the championship play-offs. Eddy Tay, Singapore Table Tennis Association senior manager for high performance, shared that the opportunity arose from their relationship with Anhui Zhongcheng, who provided sparring partners for the STTA. He added: "While their club president was here with the players, we talked about whether it would be possible for them to recruit Izaac. They felt that at his age, Izaac has potential and room for growth, and hope that his youth and competitiveness will help them. "We have made a request for him to play as much as possible as we don't want to send him there just to sit on the bench. We hope he can gain as much experience as possible training with and playing against the Chinese." Singapore's first Under-15 boys world No. 1 in 2021, Quek had enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past few years, as he claimed notable scalps such as India's Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal and Sweden's 2019 world championships silver medallist Mattias Falck en route to a career-high men's singles ranking of 55th in November 2023. He also teamed up with Koen Pang to achieve some outstanding results in the men's doubles, as they stunned China's then world No. 1 Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng to reach the last four at the WTT Finals in 2024, the year they also won silver at the Asian championships. In January, they rose to fifth in the world. However, Quek's ranking has slipped to 106th in the men's singles and 12th in the men's doubles as he started a business diploma course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic after the 2024 Olympics. But both the STTA and the player are not unduly worried. "There are mitigating factors for the dip as he is just making the transition to polytechnic and has not played in as many competitions as before," Tay said. "Despite recent losses, including narrow defeats at the world championships, we feel Izaac has generally done well and has improved in terms of his consistency and overall game play in both the singles and doubles." Tay said: "We will need to strategise in terms of his tournament plan. The players' world ranking is not of such a big concern now as it would be in 2027 before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. So we are devoting more time to training, and the overseas stints will have great value for his development." For his part, Quek has made adjustments to his game to take fewer risks and try to be stronger in rallies. He has also increased the duration of each of his endurance exercises from 10 to 15 minutes in his 12 training sessions across each week. He said: "I was on a honeymoon period in 2023 when many players didn't know much about me, and things were going well for me and I had some wins in big tournaments like the Singapore Smash. "This year, I still had some good wins against strong opponents, such as China's top-30 player Chen Yuanyu at the 2025 Asian Cup group stage, but they were not in such tournaments with a lot of ranking points. "I feel my game is stronger now and I'm more experienced, so I'm not focusing on the ranking now. I just need to focus on my game and naturally, the ranking will come." Before his CTTSL debut, Quek will spearhead a group of 10 Singaporeans competing at the June 26 -July 2 Asian Youth Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He said: "My focus will firstly be on motivating the younger ones to get some wins with me in the team event first, before my singles event later. "My game is good enough for this level and there's no player there that I think I have no chance to beat, and I think we have good players in our team too." [embed] [[nid:717602]] This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.
Straits Times
22-06-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Izaac Quek becomes first local-born Singapore player to join China Table Tennis Super League
Izaac Quek will follow in the footsteps of China-born Singaporeans to play in the prestigious tournament. PHOTO: ITTF SINGAPORE – Featuring China's best current players, up-and-coming starlets and retired legends, the China Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) is widely regarded as the sport's most competitive league. And Izaac Quek is hoping his stint with Anhui Zhongcheng will help take his game to the next level after becoming the first local-born Singapore player to join the CTTSL. He will follow in the footsteps of China-born Singaporeans such as Feng Tianwei and current national men's team coach Gao Ning to play in the prestigious tournament, the standard of which is seen by some as comparable to the world championships. While his club comprise relatively unheralded players such as 34th-ranked Wen Ruibo, Ning Xiankun (133rd) and Niu Guankai (175th), Quek will get the chance to pit his skills against the world's top two players Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin, as well as Olympic champions such as Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin, who no longer compete on the World Table Tennis circuit. The 19-year-old, who has played in leagues in India, France and Spain, told The Straits Times: 'This is the best league in the world and not everyone gets to play in it, so I want to make full use of this stint to learn as much as I can from the best players in the world. 'Wen is 18 and I kept in touch with him after previous competitions, and I'm also looking forward to test myself against Fan, whom I have not played against. I've heard there will be two team matches in a day for four days in a row, so I have to get myself physically ready for this challenge.' Quek missed the June 6-10 first stage of the competition in Hebei as he was helping Dabang Delhi to a top-four finish in India's Ultimate Table Tennis from May 29 to June 15. He will make his CTTSL debut in the July 25-28 second stage in Fujian before the Aug 29-Sept 1 third stage in Xinjiang. Anhui Zhongcheng are currently sixth out of nine teams, with the top four sides advancing to the championship play-offs. Eddy Tay, Singapore Table Tennis Association senior manager for high performance, shared that the opportunity arose from their relationship with Anhui Zhongcheng, who provided sparring partners for the STTA. He added: 'While their club president was here with the players, we talked about whether it would be possible for them to recruit Izaac. They felt that at his age, Izaac has potential and room for growth, and hope that his youth and competitiveness will help them. 'We have made a request for him to play as much as possible as we don't want to send him there just to sit on the bench. We hope he can gain as much experience as possible training with and playing against the Chinese.' Singapore's first Under-15 boys world No. 1 in 2021, Quek had enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past few years, as he claimed notable scalps such as India's Commonwealth Games champion and Sharath Kamal and Sweden's 2019 world championships silver medallist Mattias Falck en route to a career-high men's singles ranking of 55th in November 2023. He also teamed up with Koen Pang to achieve some outstanding results in the men's doubles, as they stunned China's then world No. 1 Yuan Licen and Xiang Peng to reach the last four at the WTT Finals in 2024, when they also won silver at the Asian championships. In January, they rose to fifth in the world. However, Quek's ranking has slipped to 106th in the men's singles and 12th in the men's doubles as he started a business diploma course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic after the 2024 Olympics. But both the STTA and the player are not unduly worried. 'There are mitigating factors for the dip as he is just making the transition to polytechnic and has not played in as many competitions as before,' Tay said. 'Despite recent losses, including narrow defeats at the world championships, we feel Izaac has generally done well and has improved in terms of his consistency and overall game play in both the singles and doubles.' Tay said: 'We will need to strategise in terms of his tournament plan. The players' world ranking is not of such a big concern now as it would be in 2027 before the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. So we are devoting more time to training, and the overseas stints will have great value for his development.' On his part, Quek has made adjustments to his game to take lesser risks and try to be stronger in rallies. He has also increased the duration of each of his endurance exercises from 10 to 15 minutes in his 12 training sessions across each week. He said: 'I was on a honeymoon period in 2023 when many players didn't know much about me, and things were going well for me and I had some wins in big tournaments like the Singapore Smash. 'This year, I still had some good wins against strong opponents, such as China's top-30 player Chen Yuanyu at the 2025 Asian Cup group stage, but they were not in such tournaments with a lot of ranking points. 'I feel my game is stronger now and I'm more experienced, so I'm not focusing on the ranking now. I just need to focus on my game and naturally, the ranking will come.' Before his CTTSL debut, Quek will spearhead a group of 10 Singaporeans competing at the June 26-July 2 Asian Youth Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He said: 'My focus will firstly be on motivating the younger ones to get some wins with me in the team event first, before my singles event later. 'My game is good enough for this level and there's no player there that I think I have no chance to beat, and I think we have good players in our team too.' David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Hindu
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Formation of WTT India will lead to the country hosting more international events
In a major boost to the table tennis ecosystem in India, the World Table Tennis (WTT) — the events' arm of the International Table Tennis Federation — has formed WTT India, with an eye on hosting more high-profile world-ranking events in the country. India has joined a select group of countries like China, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the US to have domestic WTT event companies. A. Sharath Kamal, who retired earlier this year, has come aboard as the brand ambassador of WTT India, while Vita Dani, the co-promoter of franchise-based league Ultimate Table Tennis and an ITTF governing council member, will join as a member of the board of directors. 'You will start to see more WTT events and more international events. Eventually, in the next few years, you will start to see some of our bigger events coming here, whether that's Champions, we will explore Smash in the future as well. 'Although it's a different road to get that, hopefully even World Championships and big events on that scale,' Steve Dainton, Group CEO of ITTF, told The Hindu. 'Having people that are working day to day on World Table Tennis will help us achieve that quicker than having just us based out of Singapore trying to make it happen.' Sharath was excited to be a part of the project. 'This moment feels like the turning of a page. The sport has come so far in India, and now, with WTT officially here, we have the chance to elevate it like never before,' he said. 'I am proud to represent this next phase — not just as a player, but as someone who truly believes in the potential of Indian table tennis.' India at present hosts two annual WTT events, a Star Contender and a Youth Contender series tournament. The number is likely to double in the next 12-month cycle with the new partnership. 'We only have to grow from here. I am hoping that we as a country are able to host (the) 2036 Games and if that is the case, then this would be an ideal roadmap to lead up to the Olympics in India. I don't think we can ask for a better opportunity than this or a better partnership than this as far as table tennis is concerned,' Vita said. 'As you have seen, India has done exceedingly well in the last seven to eight years, better than ever before. For us to really ensure that we tap into the right talent, we get the right champions ahead, the WTT partnership will bring a lot of value to us and I think it's important for us as a country to have a partnership like this.'
The Hindu
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
India to host more international table tennis events, courtesy WTT India
In a major boost to the table tennis ecosystem in India, the World Table Tennis (WTT) – the events arm of the International Table Tennis Federation – has formed WTT India, the India chapter, with an eye on hosting more high-profile world-ranking events in India. WTT India, the event management company, was formed earlier this month, with India joining a select group of countries like China, Singapore, Japan, Germany and USA to have domestic WTT event companies. A. Sharath Kamal, the legendary paddler who retired earlier this year, has come aboard as the brand ambassador of WTT India, while Vita Dani, the co-promoter of franchise-based league Ultimate Table Tennis and an ITTF governing council member, will join as a member of the board of directors. 'You will start to see more WTT events and more international events. Eventually, in the next few years, you will start to see some of our bigger events coming here, whether that's Champions, we will explore Smash in the future as well. Although it's a different road to get that, hopefully even World Championships and big events on that scale,' Steve Dainton, Group CEO of ITTF, told The Hindu. 'Having people then that are working day-to-day on World Table Tennis will help us to achieve that quicker than having just us based out of Singapore trying to make it happen.' Sharath was excited to be a part of the project. 'This moment feels like the turning of a page. The sport has come so far in India, and now, with WTT officially here, we have the chance to elevate it like never before,' he said. 'I am proud to represent this next phase — not just as a player, but as someone who truly believes in the potential of Indian table tennis.' India at present hosts two annual WTT events, a Star Contender and a Youth Contender series tournament. The number is likely to double in the next 12-month cycle with the new partnership. 'We only have to grow from here. I am hoping that we as a country are able to host 2036 and if that is the case, then this would be an ideal roadmap to lead up to the Olympics in India. I don't think we can ask for a better opportunity than this or a better partnership than this as far as table tennis is concerned,' Dani said. 'As you have seen, India has done exceedingly well in the last seven to eight years, better than ever before. For us to really ensure that we tap into the right talent, we get the right champions ahead, The WTT partnership will bring a lot of value to us and I think it's important for us as a country to have a partnership like this.'
