Hugo Calderano wins title in table tennis tournament in Oman
Last Saturday (14), Brazilian table tennis player Hugo Calderano won the WTT Contender tournament in Muscat, the capital of Oman. In a close match, Calderano beat England's Liam Pitchford 4 sets to 3. This is the athlete's third major achievement in 2023, after winning the tournaments in Durban (South Africa) and Doha (Qatar) at the start of the year.
In the final against Pitchford, Calderano followed the same pattern as his previous matches in the tournament. As in his matches against Jules Rolland from France and Simon Gauzy, also from France, in the round of 16 and semi-finals respectively, Calderano lost the first two sets. The British table tennis player, considered an underdog, won the first two sets 11/6 and 11/1.
However, from the third set onwards, the Brazilian recovered and won the match. Calderano won the third, fourth and fifth sets 11/8, 11/0 and 11/4 respectively. Pitchford managed to recapture some of his performance in the sixth set, winning it 12/10. However, Calderano was more incisive in the last set, winning 11/7 and securing the title.
After his victory in Oman, Hugo Calderano has a busy schedule ahead of him. Next week, he will take part in another WTT Contender tournament in Antalya, Turkey, starting on Thursday 19th. He will then represent Brazil at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where the table tennis competitions will begin on 29 October.
