The Brazilian beats the Chinese at their own game – table tennis

It’s still probably one of the biggest problems we have to solve, said Steve Dainton, chief executive of the ITTF, the sport’s world governing body. He described China’s dominance as a situation that has been with us for some time.

“I feel like Hugo is part of that change, and it’s been very positive — especially with China,” Dainton added.

Calderano is ranked No. 5 in the sport — he reached No. 3 a year ago — and has beaten many top Chinese players, including No. 1 Fan Zhendong.

If I hit my shots, I have a great chance to win, even against the best Chinese, he told The Associated Press in an interview.

Calderano grew up in Rio de Janeiro, his coaches and support team are French, and he lives in Germany. He speaks Portuguese, English, French, Spanish and German and can communicate in Italian and of course Chinese.

While playing in Japan this month, he was asked if he would try to add an eighth string.

Not at the moment, he replied.

He has a very unusual profile, Calderanos coach Jean-Rene Mounie said. We joke that Hugo is a bit like an Ethiopian or Congolese guy who competes in downhill skiing.

Chinese players have won 90% of the Olympic gold in table tennis, and it is the countries’ unofficial pastime. The men have won six of the last seven Olympic golds in singles, and the women have won every singles gold since the sport was introduced to the Summer Olympics in 1988.

China and table tennis have been synonymous since Ping-Pong Diplomacy opened relations between the United States and China just over 50 years ago.

However, China did not invent it. It was in 19th century England, where the parlor game was known as whiff whaff and was played on dining tables with wine corks shaped into balls. Books or cigar boxes were the net and stiff place mats possibly the first clubs or paddles.

Dainton wants China to sacrifice some of its medal dominance and focus instead on international development, sharing expertise and economic gains.

They are so technologically advanced, and most of the world doesn’t have the knowledge, he said. Now it’s time for them to share information.

An Australian who speaks Chinese, Dainton said he spoke about China’s dominance in the sport with Liu Guoliang, president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and a two-time Olympic gold medallist.

He (Liu) is very keen to develop international stars because even for China it is important that the sport stays relevant and strong outside of China, Dainton said.

Mounie has coached Calderano for a decade and describes his game as playing stronger, faster and closer.

My nature as a person and as an athlete is to be very aggressive all the time. I want to force my game and dominate my opponent, Calderano said.

Table tennis exists in two worlds. There is a casual, crowd-sourced game. And there’s an elite version followed in Asia and European colonies; lightning strikes, swinging players and a small table to increase speed.

Calderano changes the attack. One serve—a high toss that goes 10 feet (3 meters) up—is followed by a very low one. He crouches almost below the edge of the table to start serving and, like many players, constantly rubs the table to remove imaginary debris. A sweaty hand dries in the corner next to the net.

Hugo is the strongest player in the world, Frenchman Simon Gauzy told sports newspaper LEquipe. He is hyperaggressive all the time. When it works, it’s unstoppable.

Calderanos’ dexterity goes beyond table tennis and languages. He holds the personal record for solving the Rubik’s Cube in 5.61 seconds, just 2 seconds off the World Cube Association world record.

His father and mother – Marcos Calderano and Elisa Borges, both teachers – got him started at a local club. He left Rio at the age of 14 to train near Sao Paulo, moved to France at the age of 16 and after a few years in Brazil to manage injuries he moved to Germany.

“Hugo has ambitions to be on top of the world, which means beating the Chinese because they are the best,” Mounie said. The emotion he puts into his game is very special, and he always tries to force it into his game.

Calderano described China’s top four players as above.

“Then they have a lot of other players who are just below the level and who are also strong and very dangerous, but they don’t have the consistency of the top guys,” he said.

CEO Dainton said he expects the Chinese to sweep gold again at next year’s Olympics in Paris. But he can dream. Calderano reached the final 16 in Rio in 2016 and the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics.

We need those magical moments with surprises, he said. Yes, of course, if we had an American, a Canadian — should I say an Australian — that would be a massive, massive story.

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