Nicholas Lum

Nicholas Lum is one of Australia's rising stars in the sport of Table Tennis. Born in 2005, Nicholas began competing in official competitions in 2014 with his junior debut coming at the Croydon Masters Junior Open hosted by his home club, Croydon & District Table Tennis Association.

His passion for the sport came from watching his father compete at his local table tennis club every Thursday afternoon and decided to give it a go at age seven. 

Nicholas' dedication to the sport throughout his junior career would see him compete in more than 200 events between 2014 and 2022 all across the world. After winning multiple national age titles and beginning to taste success on the world junior circuit, Nicholas had his breakout year in 2019 winning the men’s cadet singles title at the Janos Molnar Tournament in Hungary. It was his first international victory and Nicholas became the first non-European player to win that event.

The World Table Tennis Youth Contender series would be Nicholas' next source of success. In 2021 he managed to score gold in the under-17 division in the Italian and Slovak Republic legs of the tour, as well as a silver medal in Hungary. Nicholas also tried his luck in the under 19's division during the 2021 season, coming home with a bronze medal in the Slovak Republic World Table Tennis Youth Contender series as well as making it into the last 16 in the 2021 World Youth Championship in Portugal. Nicholas' performance in 2021 would see him break into the top 10 of the Youth World Rankings for the first time in January 2022.

Nicholas' success and hard work earned him a call-up to the national team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games hosted in Birmingham. His call-up, two months after his 17th birthday, made him the second youngest table tennis player to represent Australia at a Commonwealth Games since John Tawadrous.

During his Commonwealth Games campaign, Nicholas narrowly missed out on a medal in two events, falling short in the bronze-medal playoff for the men’s doubles with Finn Luu and mixed doubles with Min Hyung Jee. Additionally, he advanced to the round of 16 in the men’s singles and contributed to the men’s team, which narrowly missed out on a spot in the quarter-finals after countback.

In 2023 Nicholas rebounded on the continental stage with a win at the Oceania Table Tennis Championship in the men's doubles alongside Finn. To compliment his victory in Townsville, he also won the under-19 division at the Australian Table Tennis Championship hosted at Sydney Olympic Park. His two major victories in 2023 would propel him to a career-high men's world ranking of no.31 in July and be awarded Australia's junior player of the year award for the third year running.

Nicholas then went on to make his Olympic debut at Paris 2024 aged 19. In the singles event, Nicholas finished in the last 64.

In the mixed doubles alongside veteran Min Hyung Jee, the duo finished in the last 16.

Nicholas also competed in the team event with fellow youngsters Hwan Bae and Finn Luu. The team finished ninth after a 3-0 loss to Japan gaining valuable experience for future Olympic Games.