Number three in the world and the greatest table tennis player in the history of Brazil, Hugo Calderano, 25, believes he is more popular in China than in his homeland.
He can see this from the numbers on social networks and, mainly, from the reaction he provokes when he goes to the Asian country.
On Weibo, the Chinese social network, Calderano has more than 100,000 local followers. On Instagram, there are 180,000.
“But there are people from all over the world. Not on Weibo”, he explains.
The Brazilian’s intention is to strengthen this contact because it is his way to the unprecedented Olympic medal in Paris-2024. His plan is, in the near future, to play in the Chinese league. On his own, he began to study Mandarin. He is not fluent, but he can communicate well.
When he goes to China, he believes he will have the chance to compete in a different championship than the others and where the two athletes ahead of him are in the world rankings.
“Whenever I go to China, the crowd is very fanatical. There are many foreign players who, when they go there, cannot win many games, even from Chinese who are not known on the international scene. There are also Chinese who when they go out to tournaments do not play well because they are used to their style of play and don’t adapt. The level is very high and you can learn a lot, especially from the best. They’ve been at the top for a long time. If I can play against them often, I’ll improve “, believe.
The main targets are Fan Zhendong and Ma Long, number 1 and 2 respectively in the world rankings. The two have dominated international competitions. At the Tokyo Olympics, Long won gold and Zhendong won silver. China won all the first places in the sport, except in mixed doubles. It came in second.
Calderano’s plan is not new, but the Covid-19 pandemic has messed everything up. He was also close to reaching the Champions League final, the most important club tournament in table tennis, but the Ukrainian War prevented him.
The Brazilian was an athlete for Fakel Orenburg, a Russian team sponsored by Gazprom, the country’s state-owned energy company. They were in the semifinals and won the first game 3-1.
That’s when Russia invaded Ukrainian territory. The team was withdrawn from the competition and Calderano terminated his contract. He is without a club now, but, as he admits, there is no shortage of proposals for the number three in the world.
“Within everything that’s going on, table tennis becomes irrelevant. Of course it’s boring for us because when it was getting to the funniest and coolest stage, you can’t play anymore. But what can we do? We have to accept because it’s something much bigger than table tennis”, he acknowledges.
Calderano has lived in Germany for eight years and the time outside Brazil has helped him to become an athlete different from the others. He has a great interest in languages ​​(he speaks five languages ​​fluently: Portuguese, English, Spanish, German and French and communicates well in Italian and Mandarin) and he liked to play with Rubik’s Cube as a way to give him speed in his hands, in addition to having fun. .
He will return to Europe at the end of May. Until then, he stays in Brazil, where he usually comes just for vacations. Not this year. He is in training period in São Caetano do Sul (ABC Paulista region), alongside other athletes from the national team and from France, against whom he will play a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, at the beginning of next month.
It is observed by teenagers who also play table tennis in teams in the municipality. Carioca, he moved to São Caetano at the age of 14, accompanied by his grandfather, to really dedicate himself to the sport that until then was just a hobby.
Even with a long career ahead of him, one of Calderano’s concerns is what legacy he can leave in the sport. Because Brazil has never had an athlete as relevant as him and in such a high position in the ranking.
“One of my goals is to make table tennis more popular. In addition to doing that with my results, I want to be with the youngest as often as I can. I see table tennis becoming more popular with my own eyes. It stands to reason that It’s still far from the country’s best-known sports, but the Olympics in Rio and Tokyo have contributed a lot to people following table tennis.”
Apart from the two Games in which he participated. In 2016, it stopped in the round of 16. In Tokyo, one of the strongest images of the Brazilian delegation was that of Calderano’s tears after losing back to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, in the quarterfinals.
After that, he got the best result of his career. In September of last year, he won the Doha stage of the world circuit, an unprecedented feat in national sport, and reached the third position in the ranking.
“Realistically speaking, Fan Zhendong is way above. [Zhendong e Ma Long] are way above everyone else. I believe 100% that I can beat them in a game, maybe the Olympics or the World Championships, but having the regularity they have is another story,” he notes.
Hugo Calderano himself, however, tries a smile with the answer. For to win the Olympic medal, one victory may be enough.
“I don’t put limits on myself. I know I can get there. I train for it.”
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