Hugo Marinho Borges Calderano (; born 22 June 1996) is a Brazilian professional table tennis playerTime Brasil Hugo Calderano and considered the greatest player from the American continent in the history of the sport.Grit and Genius: Hugo Calderano’s Unforgettable Run at the ITTF World Cup 2025 In February 2026, he achieved the highest-ranking for a player from the Americas to date, world No. 2 in singles by ITTF/WTT.
Calderano won the 2025 World Cup, his biggest accomplishment, where he defeated the three best ranked players at that time; the world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto in the quarterfinal, the world No. 2 Wang Chuqin in the semifinal and the world No. 1 Lin Shidong in the final. That same year, he was runner-up at the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships. He has also placed in the top 3 at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, the WTT Champions and the Grand Smash, in addition to placing fourth in the Olympic Games, the first table tennis player from the Americas to reach an Olympic semi-final.Hugo Calderano volta a ser 3º do ranking mundial, melhor posição de um mesatenista das Américas
Early life
Born in Rio de Janeiro, he started playing table tennis at the age of eight. Since his mother, father and grandfather were physical education teachers, the boy was encouraged to play sports from an early age. From the age of 10 to 12, he was a member of the Rio volleyball team and was pre-school state champion in the long jump.Sobre o HugoOlimpíadas: conheça Hugo Calderano, o brasileiro que fez história no tênis de mesa
At the age of 14, Calderano left Rio de Janeiro, and the Laranjeiras club, home of Fluminense, where he trained, for São Caetano do Sul, in São Paulo, to wear the uniform of the Brazilian table tennis team for the first time. In 2010, at the age of 14, he was South American and Latin American Children's Champion. In 2011, at the age of 15, he was Brazilian Youth Champion, Latin American Children's Champion, in Peru, individually and in teams; and Champion of the Argentine Open Youth in individual, team and doubles.
In 2012, at the age of 16, he won an individual bronze medal at the World Cadet Challenge in Puerto Rico; he was South American Youth Champion, in individual, teams and doubles; and champion in youth open competitions in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Poland.
In 2013, at the age of 17, he was the youngest table tennis player to win a stage of the World Tour and the first to win stages of the Youth and Adult World Tour in the same year. He won an individual silver medal at the Polish Youth Open, was Champion of the Brazilian Open Adult in individual, and Champion of the Brazilian Open Youth in individual and team.
International career
2014–2016 At the age of 18, Calderano made his first Olympic appearance, obtaining bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. He was also a silver medalist in the ITTF Grand Finals under-21 tournament, Japan Open under-21 Champion, Brazilian Adult Singles Champion and Latin American Adult Champion.Jogos da Juventude: Hugo Calderano é bronze no tênis de mesa
From 2014 to 2021, Hugo played for the Ochsenhausen team, in the first division of the German Bundesliga.
In 2015, he won two gold medals at the Pan American Games, in the individual and team events. He was also a Latin American individual and team champion, and a silver medalist in the Qatar Open doubles tournament. He participated in the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, losing in the 2nd round.
In 2016, Calderano was Latin American Champion in individual and team competitions; Champion of the Latin American Table Tennis Cup, in Guatemala; Kuwait Open under-21 champion; Austrian Open singles silver medal and Swedish Open doubles tournament champion.Hugo Calderano conquista a Copa Latino-Americana na Guatemala In October 2016, Calderano, 31st in the world rankings, lost in the round of 16 of the World Cup, in Saarbrücken, Germany, 4–0 (11/8, 11/5, 11/6 and 11/7) to the Chinese Xu Xin, third in the classification. It was the second most important event of the season, behind only the Olympics.Hugo Calderano cai diante de chinês nas oitavas de final da Copa do Mundo
2016 Summer Olympics Calderano participated in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, where he reached the round of 16, a feat that only Hugo Hoyama, a Brazilian legend in the sport, had achieved for Brazil, in Atlanta-1996. Calderano thus finished 9th in the competition.Tênis de mesa: Calderano é eliminado, mas iguala melhor resultado do Brasil
2017–2023
Calderano entered the table tennis world top 20 in January 2017.Hugo Calderano sobe no ranking e entra no top 20 mundial do tênis de mesa When he was number 25 in the world rankings, he participated in the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships, losing in the 3rd round to the Chinese Xu Xin, 3rd in the world, by 4 to 1 (partials of 12/10, 7/11, 11/6, 11/3 and 11/4).Mundial: Calderano perde para terceiro do mundo e dá adeus à competição At the 2017 Pan American Table Tennis Championships held in Cartagena, he obtained two gold medals in singles and team.Hugo Calderano vence na final, e Brasil encerra Pan-Americano com cinco ouros This year, he was also a singles and doubles bronze medalist at the Czech Republic Open; Singles and doubles champion at the Brazilian Open, and silver medalist in the doubles tournament at the Hungarian Open.
At the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Calderano reached the quarterfinals playing with Gustavo Tsuboi and Eric Jouti.Em batalha de quase 3h, Brasil luta, mas perde da Alemanha e está fora do Mundial
At the 2018 ITTF Pan-America Cup, Calderano won the gold medal.Hugo Calderano garante medalha de ouro na Copa Pan-Americana
Calderano entered the table tennis world top 10 in July 2018.Hugo Calderano entra no top 10 do ranking mundial de tênis de mesa
In December 2018, Calderano won a historic bronze medal at the 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. In the semi-final, a few hours after beating the Chinese Fan Zhendong, number 1 in the world and voted the best player of the season, Calderano was defeated by the Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto, fifth in the world rankings, 4–0 (7/11, 8/11, 8/11 and 5/11). The Japanese phenomenon, just 15 years old, played his quarter-final match a day earlier. Calderano had less than five hours to recover from an extremely exhausting duel against the best in the world. Calderano started the year ranked 17th in the world, and arrived at this tournament sixth in the rankings.Hugo Calderano faz história e fica com o bronze no Grand Finals de tênis de mesaCalderano bate número 1 do mundo, mas cai para fenômeno japonês e é bronze no Grand Finals
Other important results for Calderano in 2018 were the individual silver medal at the Qatar Open, the individual bronze medal at the Hungarian Open, runner-up in the 2017/18 Bundesliga, and the title of Brazilian adult champion.
At the 2019 ITTF Pan-America Cup, Calderano won the gold medal, becoming two-time champion of the tournament.Calderano leva o título da Copa Pan-Americana e se aproxima do Top 5 Mundial
At the 2019 Pan American Games, Calderano won gold in singles (becoming two-time champion of the competition) defeating the Chinese, naturalized Dominican, Jiaji Wu in the final, in addition to obtaining gold in doubles, and bronze in teams.Hugo Calderano vence no tênis de mesa e é bicampeão pan-americano
At the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships, Calderano reached the 4th round (round of 16), where he faced Chinese Ma Long, two-time world champion and Olympic champion, and was defeated by 4 sets to 1, partial 8/11, 11/8, 11/1, 11/3 and 11/8.Ma Long vence Hugo Calderano e avança às quartas do Mundial de tênis de mesa em Budapeste
Other important results for Calderano in 2019 were the individual bronze medal at the Austrian Open, the individual bronze medal at the Czech Republic Open, the 2018/19 Bundesliga title and the 2018/19 German Cup title.
At the 2020 ITTF Pan-America Cup, Calderano won the gold medal, becoming three-time champion of the tournament.Em final brasileira, Calderano conquista o tricampeonato da Copa Pan-Americana de Tênis de Mesa In 2020, he was also runner-up in the 2019/20 Bundesliga and in the 2019/20 German Cup.
2021 In 2021, Calderano announced he was leaving the German Bundesliga and switching to the Russian Champion's league to focus more on international competition. However, Calderano will continue to live in Germany and train in the same training center; he will compete in a different league.
Calderano entered World Table Tennis' inaugural event WTT Doha. After receiving a minor scare in the first round to co-patriot Gustavo Tsuboi, Calderano comfortably beat An Jaehyun in the round of 16. However, he lost to Simon Gauzy in the quarterfinals of the WTT Contender Event. In the WTT Star Contender event, he bowed out in the round of 16 to Darko Jorgic after missing his own serve at deuce in the fifth game. Although it briefly looked like Lin Yun-Ju had passed Calderano for the Olympic fourth seed following the results of WTT Doha, in April ITTF amended the seeding system so that Calderano was once again slated to be the fourth seed.
In an interview with JAPAN Forward in July, Calderano named mentality as one of his strong suits and stated that he used to work with a mental coach until the coach died.
Calderano made up for his loss in the WTT Contender Doha and WTT Star Contender Doha earlier in March by winning the title at WTT Star Contender Doha in September. He defeated Liam Pitchford and Darko Jorgic in the semifinal and final, respectively, on his way to victory.
In September 2021, Calderano entered the table tennis world top 5 for the first time.Calderano faz história ao ingressar no top 5 do tênis de mesa mundial
At the 2021 Pan American Table Tennis Championships, Calderano became two-time Pan American champion in singles and in the team category.Têns de Mesa: Hugo Calderano é Ouro no Pan-Americano
At the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships, Calderano reached the quarter-finals, where he faced the Chinese Liang Jingkun, and went on to open 3 sets to 0, but ended up eliminated 4–3. With this, he achieved the best result in Brazil's history in this tournament, finishing in 5th placeHugo Calderano sofre virada incrível e perde para chinês nas quartas de final do Mundial
In December 2021, Calderano obtained another historic medal, obtaining bronze at the WTT Cup Finals (a tournament that ended this year's season and featured the 16 best table tennis players of the season, in Singapore. The event replaced the ITTF Grand Finals this year when the international circuit underwent some changes). Calderano ended 2021 as the best season of his career, ranked number four in the world.Calderano leva bronze no WTT Cup Finals e encerra 2021 como melhor temporada da carreira
2020 Olympic Games
In February 2021, Calderano was already three years among the top ten players in the world in table tennis and was ranked sixth in the world rankings. Calderano qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as seed No.4, being the best non-Asian in the world ranking.Sexto do ranking mundial de tênis de mesa, Hugo Calderano é contratado por clube russo
By beating the South Korean Jang Woojin, number 12 in the ranking, by 4 sets to 3, he became the first Brazilian and Latin American to reach the quarter-finals of table tennis in the Olympic Games.Hugo Calderano vai às quartas e alcança resultado histórico no tênis de mesa His Olympic Challenge ended in the quarterfinals with a 2:4 defeat against Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the eventual bronze medallist, finishing in 5th place.
2022–24 In November 2022, at the 2022 Pan American Table Tennis Championships, Calderano became three-time Pan American champion in singles and in the team category. The table tennis player completed seven years undefeated in this continental competition.Hugo Calderano é campeão e mantém invencibilidade no Pan