ITTF 2021 World Youth Championships Daily Updates

The ITTF 2021 World Youth Championships are underway with the best junior players from around the world gathering in Portugal.

Find out how our five Australian players performed at the tournament below.

DAY 5 - 6 December

Unfortunately, Australian players run at the ITTF World Youth Championships came to an end overnight.

Nicholas Lum was the last remaining Aussie in the Singles event after reaching the Round of 16 and had set up a match with India's Payas Jain.

Lum took it to the no.3 seed, winning the first two games before Jain turned the game on its head by winning the next three. 

There wasn't much separating the two players, not even on the scoreboard, in the sixth as Lum fought to win and force a final game. In the end, Jain was able to take the lead and earned his spot in the quarter-final.

The latest information is available here

DAY 4 - 5 December

Nichloas Lum continued on from his recent successes in Europe with a win in the Round of 32 against Slovakia's Filip Delincak. Lum took an inital 3-0 lead, looking to close out the game in the fourth but Delincak bounced back.

In the end though, it was only a consulation win for the Slovakian player as Lum went on to win the final game for a 4-1 win to secure his berth in the Round of 16 against Payas Jain (India) tonight (AEDT).

In the U15 Girls Singles, Connie Psihogios had a tough Round of 32 draw against Miwa Harimoto - younger sister to Japanese Tokyo 2020 Olympic medallist Tomokazu. Psihogios put in a big effort against her opponent but wasn't able to overcome Harimoto, going down 4-0.

Chulong Nie (4-1) and Parleen Kaur (4-0) also suffered losses in their Round of 32 matches, meaning they won't progress in their events. 

DAY 3 - 4 December

Our Aussie players returned to compeition overnight with mixed results as the Girls', Boys' and Mixed Doubles competition got underway.

In the U15 Girls Doubles, Connie Psihogios joined Portugal's Mariana Santa Comba for a 3-1 (7-11 11-6 11-5 17-15) win after the duo bounced back from a loss in the first game to win the next three including a tough fourth game. 

Unfortuntely in their quarter-finals match in the evening, the pairing of Anna Hursey (Wales) and Matilde Pinto (Portugal) proved to be too strong securing a 3-1 victory despite Psihogios and Santa Comba coming back in the second. 

It was a day of mixed results for Parleen Kaur, who got her World Youth Championships underway with Nicholas Lum in the U19 Mixed Doubles. While the duo went down 3-0 to Martin Sip (Czech Republic) and Fathimath Dheema Ali (Maldives) despite pulling back a win in the third, Parleen also featured in the U19 Girls Doubles alongside Egypt's Hend Fathy. 

They won an intense five-game battle after losing the first game to Helga Dari (Hungary) and Ioana SIngeorzan (Romania). Winning the next two games Parleen and Fathy lost in the fourth game, forcing the decider. It was a close game but Kaur and Fathy were able to pull away to secure a 3-2 win (5-11 11-9 11-9 7-11 12-10).

However, their run came to end as the day drew to close with a Taipei's Fong-En Cai and Yi-Chen Hsu, the later of the two won bronze at the 2019 Junior Champs in the Girls Team, winning 3-0. 

In other results, the U15 Mixed Doubles pair of Psihogios and Chulong Nie suffered a 3-1 loss to Martin Sip (Czech Rep) and Fathimath Dheema Ali (Maldives) before Nie partnered up with Turkey's Ugurcan Dursun in the U15 Boys' Double but Russia's Llia Koniukhov and Roman Vinogradov came away with the win.

Nichloas Lum was also busy, playing in the U19 Mixed Doubles alongside Kaur and U19 Boys' Doubles with Daniel Rinderer (Germany) but unfortunately both matches resulted in 3-0 losses. 

Attention now turns to the Girls' and Boys' competition which will get underway this evening (AEDT). 

DAY 1 - 2 December

Competition at the World Youth Championships began with the Girls and Boys Teams competition. 

Australia's U19 Boys Team featuring Nicholas Lum, Finn Luu and Chulong Nie, faced back-to-back-to-back gold medallist China in the first round.

It was a tough Round of 16 draw for Australia with Lum taking on 2019 World Junior Boys Champion Peng Xiang in the first singles match. While Lum took the first game from Xiang, the Chinese athlete fought back strongly taking the subsequent three games for a 3-1 (11-8 5-11 3-11 4-11) victory.

In the next two singles matches, Luu suffered a 3-0 defeat to Shidong Lin (5-11 5-11 7-11) while Chulong Nie also went down to Zeng Beixun 3-0 (5-11 5-11 3-11).

Unfortunately, the 3-0 loss to China saw Australia knocked out of the competition with attention now turning to the doubles and singles competition beginning on Saturday 4 December (CET).

Lum (U19 Boys Doubles) and Parleen Kaur (U19 Girls Doubles) will both feature on the first day of the doubles competition alongside their respective partners.