Hugo Calderano

General presentation

>> Hello, my name is Hugo Calderano, I am Brazilian, I am 27 years old, and I am a professional table tennis player. I currently play for the Ochsenhausen club in Germany and I represent my country, Brazil, in international competitions.
I speak 7 languages and I have many other passions besides ping, I love challenges and learning new things!

How did you start playing ping?

>> I started playing table tennis quite young, at the age of 8 in Rio, where I lived then. I also practiced volleyball at the time. I loved both sports, I was progressing in both, so much so that I trained 3 times a week in each and already participated in competitions. At one point, I had to choose between my two passions to be able to specialize.

Why did you choose table tennis?

>> At the age of 14, I chose to focus on table tennis to become a professional player. I left my parents' home to go to a specialized training center in Sao Caetano (the best training center in Brazil). Table tennis is a very dynamic sport, in which you have to use your mental capacities a lot, think fast, and be very reactive. It is an intensive and complete sport, and it suits me very well.

How would you describe your game?

>> Ambitious: I am a very aggressive player, I play hard and fast on both sides; forehand and backhand, but with creativity and variation.

What is your program for this year 2024?

>> My big goal for the year 2024 is to participate in the Paris Olympics. But before that, there are still many other competitions planned: the WTT Champions in Korea, the World Cup in Macau, a Grand Smash in May in Saudi Arabia…

How do you manage such a busy schedule?

>> Yes, there are indeed many competitions in the coming weeks, but they are all important because they allow me to have a good ranking for the Olympics. However, you have to be careful to choose the competitions you do, thinking both about the points earned, without risking arriving too tired at the Olympics.

Which competition has marked you the most in your career?

>> The Rio Olympics, at home! They were very important for my development as a professional player, and it was also at that moment that Brazilians started to follow me and get to know me. This allowed us to show Brazil that table tennis is a rich and interesting sport.

Thanks to this visibility, I also hope to make other young Brazilians want to play ping-pong!

What are the other sports and activities you like to practice?

>> Overall, I love learning new things and doing all kinds of sports!

When I have a little time, I play volleyball, basketball, tennis. I also have a passion for the Rubik's cube. For the record, I can finish it in 9 seconds.
I also like playing chess. And during the COVID pandemic, I took advantage of my free time to learn to play the ukulele and the guitar.

You seem to like learning new things constantly. How do you manage it with your professional athlete schedule?

>> I like taking on these types of challenges that allow me to work my mind. It takes time but it is beneficial for my balance. For example, I also speak 7 languages (Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Italian) and I still want to progress in Italian, for example. All this works my brain and allows me not to stay locked only in the world of table tennis, to open up to the world.

Exactly, are you interested in the world around you, in different cultures?

I have been passionate about geography and discovering the world since I was very little. There is one detail that illustrates this: I know the capitals of all the countries in the world. Thanks to ping and international competitions, I can satisfy my thirst for travel. The more I do, the more curious it makes me. I love discovering the world and visiting new places. It is a real chance to be able to know different cultures.

If you had not been a professional ping player, what would you have liked to do?

>> Honestly, I don't know at all, I have no idea, because sport has always been part of my life. My parents are sports teachers, I was already doing a lot of sport as a child, so it's hard to imagine my life without it. From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a professional athlete. Sport will always be part of my life, even in several years.