Brazilian Hugo Calderano was eliminated in the semifinals of the Grand Smash Singapore, one of the four main tournaments on the world table tennis circuit. In the final this Saturday (18), the Fluminense couldn’t resist the Chinese Ma Long, three-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion, being defeated by four sets to one, with partials of 6/11, 6/11, 4/11, 8/11 and 8/11.
number 5 of ranking of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), Calderano won four games before facing Ma Long, second in the world, in the semifinals. He debuted beating the South Korean Cho Seungmin (57th) by three sets to two. He then beat the Japanese Yukiya Uda (20th) by three to one. In the round of 16, he overcame the Slovenian Darko Jorgic (10th) by the same score. In the quarterfinals, he eliminated the Nigerian Quadri Aruna (14th) by four sets to zero. The Fluminense was the only non-Chinese table tennis player in the top four of the tournament.
The loss to Ma Long ended Calderano’s 20-match winning streak in international competition, including 14 this season. He had scored ten consecutive triumphs with the conquests of the stages of Durban (South Africa) and Doha (Qatar), before the sequence in Singapore. The Brazilian had already won the last six commitments of 2022, for the Pan American Championship of the modality.
silver in italy
In Paralympic table tennis, Brazilians Paulo Salmin and Israel Stroh won the silver medal in the men’s doubles final of the Italian Open, held in the city of Lignano Sabbiadoro. In the decision of the MD14 class (walking table tennis players with impaired locomotion), the partnership did not resist the French Clement Berthier and Esteban Herrault, who won by three sets to two, partials of 10/12, 11/8, 9/11, 11/9 and 5/11.
Brazil had already secured six medals in the individual disputes of the Italian Open. Sophia Kelmer (class eight) and Bruna Alexandre (class ten) won gold, while Joyce Oliveira (class 4) and Paulo Salmin (class 7) won silver and Marliane Santos and Thaís Severo (both class 3) won bronze.
