After beating the post when losing the semifinal of the Paris-2024 Olympics, Brazilian surpassed the world’s number 1 Chinese, Lin Shidong, Macao, China
It is the first non-Asian or European Table Table to win a World Cup final. After beating the post by losing the Paris-2024 Olympics semifinal to Swedish Truls Möregårdh, the Brazilian exceeded the world’s number 1 Chinese, Lin Shidong, Macao, China. The victory in the decision was a dominant 4 sets to 1, with partials from 6/11, 11/7, 11/9, 11/4 and 11/5. At 28, Carioca number 4 in the world in the ranking of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) reaches its peak. The love of sport goes through the influence of the father, who was already on the table at the age of two and fired the joke balls. The Brazilian plays a lot of sports well and, before choosing table tennis, practiced different modalities.
At 10, the sports talent was already emerging. He began his career by integrating the Rio de Janeiro State Volleyball Team and was a pre-Mirim state jump champion in Athletics. But the decision that would change his life happened at 14, when he left the family home and moved to São Caetano do Sul (SP), where he began training with the Brazilian Table Tennis Team. Aimed at the top, Calderano won the bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China. The first Olympic medal in the history of Brazilian table tennis. A year earlier, he became the youngest to win a stage of the ITTF World Circuit, both in the youth and adult categories.
Out of competitions, he draws attention for other skills. Hugo learned to read and write alone at age 4, speaks seven languages (Portuguese, English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, French and Italian) and knows the capitals of all countries in the world. It is also a highlight in the assembly of magic cubes, its record in the traditional 3 × 3 model is impressive 5.3 seconds. “During the pandemic, I learned to play Ukulele and guitar, which I did not imagine me doing a few years ago,” said the athlete in an interview with Estadão in 2023. “This helps to continue working my brain and not only think about table tennis. We use our body so intensely in sport that sometimes our brain gets lazy. It’s important not to let it happen.”
Calderano is three Latin American champion, three-time Pan American champion, was semifinalist at the Paris Olympics and has won the 2024/25 Germany Cup in 2025, and now the World Cup, the most important title of his career. He has also worked for major international teams such as Germany Ochsenhausen (2014-2021 and since 2023), Russia’s Fakel Gazprom Orenburg and Kinoshita Meister Tokyo of the T-League Japanese League.
Posted by Luisa Cardoso
*With information from Estadão Content
