Hugo Calderano, 28, advanced on Saturday (24) to the decision of the World Table Tennis Championship. In the semifinal dispute, he beat Chinese Liang Jingkun (5th place in the world ranking) by 4 sets to 3.
Now, the Brazilian will have a chance to become the first athlete not born in Europe or Asia to take the gold medal in the competition.
The bronze medal, the best result of a South American in the competition, was already guaranteed when Calderano beat South Korean an Jaehyun and advanced to the semifinal-all semifinalists are awarded. In the last set of the semifinal, when the game was tied 3-3, Calderano scored ten straight points. In Match Point, lost six points in a row and closed the set with 11 to 9.
Calderano competes for the gold medal on Sunday (25) against Chinese Wang Chuqin, at 9:30 am (Brasília time) transmitted at SporTV and Cazétv.
The semifinal won by the Brazilian was fierce. Calderano began with advantage –Fez 2 sets at 0, with partials from 15/13 and 11/7. The Chinese took the third set (8/11) and Calderano took the room (11/8). The carioca lost the fifth and sixth sets (3/11 and 7/11) and reached the last set with a score tied.
In the last set, Calderano scored ten points in a row. In Match Point, lost six points in a row and closed the set with 11 to 9.
Jingkun had beaten the compatriot and leader of the Lin Shidong ranking in the quarterfinals. It was also about Lin Shidong that Calderano took the World Cup.
He was also the first non -Chinese and non -European winning the title of the World Cup. In the campaign, he then eliminated the top 3 of the world ranking and broke the Chinese hegemony that had been coming since 2005.
In the last decade, the Brazilian has broken the rule of Asians and Europeans in the elite of the sport.
