President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has commended Singapore table tennis players Izaac Quek and Koen Pang for their act of sportsmanship during the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (25 Feb), he lauded the world No. 4 duo for choosing “sportsmanship over winning” after they conceded a point to their Argentinian opponents in a tense men’s doubles last-16 match at the OCBC Arena on Tuesday (24 Feb).
Quek and Pang were facing Argentina’s world No. 30 pair, Horacio Cifuentes and Santiago Lorenzo.
With the score tied at 5-5 in the deciding set, the Argentinians were shown a red card for time-wasting when it was their turn to serve, awarding a crucial point to the Singapore pair.
Source: Mediacorp Entertainment
Cifuentes and Lorenzo protested, arguing that Quek and Pang were still in discussion and not ready to receive serve.
The Singaporeans agreed with their opponents.
According to The Straits Times, Quek later explained that while the red card was issued for time-wasting, both he and Pang were not ready, and “technically, that’s not really time-wasting”.
The umpire stood by her decision and play resumed.
Source: Mediacorp Entertainment
Believing the call was unfair, Pang conceded the point when play restarted, restoring parity at 6-6.
Source: Mediacorp Entertainment
The gesture drew applause from the spectators in attendance.
The match ultimately went the Argentinians’ way, with Cifuentes and Lorenzo winning 3-2 to advance to the quarter-finals.
In his Facebook post, President Tharman noted that Quek and Pang had been favoured to win, given their higher world ranking.
“Respect to Izaac and Koen. Better to lose the right way than to win the wrong way,” he wrote.
They chose sportsmanship over winning. It’s how life is best lived.
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Featured image adapted from Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube.