Brazilian tablet Hugo Calderano won the Table Tennis World Cup this Sunday (20) in Macao, China. It is the first non -Asian or European athlete to win the title. “It’s an amazing feeling to win this title,” said Calderano In an interview with the International Table Tennis Federation after the game.
“I started not very comfortable, I lost the first set, but I managed to make some tactical adjustments and was also very ready mentally when the chance appeared. I am very proud to be able to represent Brazil so well and bring a title of this size to our country,” he celebrated.
In the final, the 28 -year -old carioca defeated Chinese Lin Shidong, number 1 ranking worldwide, for 4 sets to 1. On the way, Overcome Chinese number 2 in the worldWang Chuqin and Japanese number 3, Tomokazu Harimoto.
Also in the post-game, Calderano remembered the hard time he crossed after the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, when he arrived at the semifinals and was near the medal, but lost to the Swedish Truls Möregårdh in the semifinal and Lost the bronze For French Felix Lebrun. Still, at the time, he got the best campaign of an athlete in the Americas in the history of the sport in the competition.
“I could never imagine getting a title of this magnitude [hoje]especially starting in this competition, it was not performing in my best, but I made an amazing game in the world’s number 1, which has won most of the titles recently, is playing at the very high level and I managed to dominate the game on almost every part, ”said Calderano.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva honored the Brazilian, who has been supported by the Federal Government’s athlete Scholarship program.
“Incredible performance of the top 5 athlete in the world”, wrote Lulain publication on social networks. “In a tournament with 48 of the best international competitors, the Brazilian took for the first time a player from the Americas to the decision and the title,” he said.
The last time an athlete non -Chinese won the World Cup title was in 2017, with German Dimitrij Ovtcharov. Before 2025, Calderano’s best campaign in the competition was in 2019, when he reached the quarterfinals.
With the result, Brazilian rises from Thursday to fourth position in the worldwide ranking. He, who is a three-time individual champion of the Pan American Games and Olympic semifinalist, accumulates 25 titles in the International Table Tennis Circuit.
THE Athlete bag It is a program of the Ministry of Sport, created in 2005, which individually sponsors athletes and high performance paratletes in national and international competitions of its sport. It guarantees minimal conditions to dedicate, exclusively and tranquility, to local training and competitions, South American, Pan American, World, Olympic and Paralympic.
