SINGAPORE – “Nicholas Lum, Nicholas Lum.” The Australian world No. 44’s name has been ringing in the head of Singaporean table tennis player Koen Pang since the men’s singles draw for the Singapore Smash 2023 was made on Thursday.
It was 131st-ranked Pang’s way of psyching himself up as he prepared to take on an opponent 87 rungs higher and three years younger on home soil. He was determined to not suffer a second straight first-round home defeat after he lost 3-1 to Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in 2022.
The earworm, coupled with thorough preparation, worked its magic as Pang clinched a convincing 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-4) win over Lum at the OCBC Arena on Sunday.
He will face Germany’s world No. 11 Qiu Dang next.
The 20-year-old is the second Singaporean to secure a men’s singles main-draw win at the 2023 Singapore Smash after Izaac Quek stunned Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal Achanta on Saturday.
While he celebrated with fist pumps and shouts throughout the match, he appeared calm and merely shook Lum’s hand after the Australian’s return struck the net at the final point.
But just a few minutes later, he was beaming at the mixed zone as he expressed his delight at earning his first big win at home.
Admitting that he did not expect such a comfortable victory, he said: “It’s definitely a very big win for me. I’ve been preparing for this since the draw came out and I’ve been feeling quite tense and nervous the past few days.
“I have definitely prepped myself very, very well, because I’ve been thinking about it non-stop for the past few days. Today was also my day, I was able to play my game and most of my balls went in.”
He had also studied YouTube videos of Lum playing, especially against left-handers, since Pang is a southpaw himself. He had also watched him in action at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Pang will now work on staying focused throughout his matches after a momentary lapse in concentration saw one of his returns fly out earlier.
But first, he enjoyed a celebratory mala (a hot and spicy noodle dish) meal at Siglap as fuel for his men’s doubles match with Izaac against teammates Clarence Chew and Ethan Poh on Monday.
Meanwhile, Chew was knocked out of the singles after a 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 12-10) defeat by world No. 58 Kilian Ort. Compatriot Beh Kun Ting also lost 3-1 (5-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5), to France’s Can Akkuzu in the first round on Sunday.
Olympian Chew, 27, admitted he was not used to the powerful returns of the German but will analyse what can be improved ahead of two doubles matches on Monday.
Zhou Jingyi also fell at the first hurdle of the women’s singles, losing 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7) to Japan’s Miyuu Kihara. Beh and Josh Chua were then beaten 3-1 (11-9, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5) by Hungary’s Adam Szudi and Nandor Ecseki in the men’s doubles first round.
Besides the men’s doubles, Chew will also contest the mixed doubles round of 16 with Zeng Jian against India’s Sathiyan and Manika Batra.
He said: “I had some difficulty receiving and that sort of disrupted my whole rhythm. I couldn’t execute my own play that well and that made me very hesitant in my shots so I made a lot of mistakes.
“I’ll just rest well, then train and analyse our opponents to figure out how to best counter them.”
