Chinese social media users took Hugo Calderano to the top of the topics on Sunday (20) and Monday, with posts such as “respect, Hugo !!”, declaring their respect to the Brazilian.
“He won his demons,” said a message, playing video of the press conference where the tennist table cried after winning the World Cup in Macao, a special administrative region in southern China. “I always believed myself, a month ago I was so down,” he said.
The Brazilian became the first athlete from outside Asia and European World Cup champion. Current number five in the world, he won the 3rd, 2nd and 1st of the ranking – a Japanese and two Chinese – on the way to the cup, less than a year after frustration for being off the podium at Paris games.
Chinese athletes have won this tournament in all editions since 2005. The Brazilian not only broke this hegemony but did so in the middle of China.
In the most prominent message in Weibo, the main platform of the written comments, a newspaper analyst linked to the Xinhua agency wrote: “That’s right, was Hugo Calderano, from the ‘Desert’ of Brazil Tennis’, which won the World Cup. No fans, no attention and resources, with talent, hard work and love, reached the top of the world.”
One of the parallels raised by different users was with Victor Hugo’s “The Miserables”, in part by the coincidence of the name. The idea is that Calderano also represents a “revolution”.
First, by its physical form. “Hugo became a god in a battle” against the young Chinese players, wrote one from Beijing.
“There are no natural winners, hard work is awarded, even in Brazil it is possible to produce a table tennis champion,” added another, saying that he enters “a new world”.
“Welcome to 2025, a new era of table tennis,” agreed the Shanghai Guancha analyst, argued that Calderano introduces Brazil and the Americas “on the world stage”.
What he brings is a more “simple and rude” table tennis, presenting “probably the best physical fitness” for the sport with its 1.83 meter and track athlete preparation.
On the other hand, most posts, even the most complimentary to the Brazilian, were accompanied by laments or criticism of the fact that Fan Zhendong, a gold medal in the last Olympic edition, did not compete.
“It is evident that this cannot be reached without fan zhendong,” wrote one. Fan has the age of the Brazilian, 28, and has lost twice to him, but his characteristic of “pressing continuously” is seen as unique.
Fan announced in December that he left the ranking of the International Table Tennis Federation, in the face of the announcement of high fines for those who do not participate in events of the entity. With that, it was out of the World Cup.
Online criticism of the Federation and the Chinese leaders, charging “liability” for driving him away, and the Calderano-defeated tableist tables. “Thanks to Liu Guoliang, this is the first time I hear the Brazilian National Anthem,” said one.
Others were more humorous. “Brazil made history in table tennis. When will our football team make history?”
