Nicholas Lum drawing on confidence ahead of the 2021 World Youth Championships

Australia’s Nicholas Lum believes his recent success in Europe has given him confidence ahead of the 2021 World Youth Championships set to begin next week in Portugal.

However, with the best junior players expected to be in attendance, he knows the challenges the team and himself personally will come up against.

The 16-year-old has been training hard since March 2020 with the National Team coaches in Melbourne to improve his game, giving him the best opportunity to replicate it on the international stage.

Lum isn’t new to the international stage either, his star has been on the rise since his bronze medal at the 2017 ITTF World Hopes Week. While in Europe in February last year, he came away with six medals - three silver, three bronze - across singles and doubles competitions including the Janos Molnar International Tournament, World Junior Circuit Czech Junior & Cadet Open and Safirs International Tournament. 

Lum’s recent success at the World Table Tennis Youth Contenders, has seen the Victorian native clinch four gold, one silver and a bronze medal.

“It definitely gives me a little bit of confidence but you know, the World Youth Championships...all the junior players from all around the world will be there, it’ll be much more difficult, but it definitely gives me some sort of confidence that I can bring to the tournament,” Lum said.

“I’m very excited to compete at the World Youth Championships next week, the top junior players from all around the world will be competing so it will be a very good experience for me to go all out.”

Earlier this month, he also had a taste of senior level competition at the World Table Tennis Contender Novo Mesto in Slovenia, where he made the second round qualification in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles.

In the mixed doubles, playing alongside Min Hyung Jee, they suffered defeat in the Round of 16. 

To have the chance to play at the senior level, against some of the best players in the world, was a great experience in Lum's eyes. 

“In a match against Steffan Mengel [of Germany], there were no second opportunities given to me so every ball had to be played with quality from start to finish,” he explained.

“I’ve taken this experience and implemented it into my training so that I can have the same feeling when I play against them and it just helps me to improve and play at a much better quality.” 

It will be a full schedule at the World Youth Championships for Lum, who will be competing across three events; U19’s boys singles, U19’s boys team - with Finn Luu and Chulong Nie - and U19’s mixed doubles - with Parleen Kaur. 

While competition is set to be tough in Portugal, with the likes of 2017 World Junior Championships medallist Peng Xiang (China) and Feng Yi-Hsin (Chinese Taipei), Lum is taking it one step at a time to ensure he can give his best. 

“For the team event, I think that if we can play at our best, we have a chance of competing for a medal,” he said.

“For the singles...I think the aim for me is to just take everything step by step, and to go on and compete against the top juniors in the world and to give 100 per cent.”

The 2021 World Youth Championships will be held from 2-10 December in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. For more information click here.