Table tennis: Calderano beats Lebrun, moves to quarter-finals in Paris

One of the big names in the Brazilian delegation in Paris, Hugo Calderano proved his worth against French host Alexis Lebrun. Ranked number six in the world, the Brazilian advanced to the quarter-finals after beating Lebrun (16th) four sets to one.

After qualifying, Calderano matched his best result in his third Olympic Games. In Tokyo, he had reached the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov. By coincidence, Ovtcharov was eliminated today in the round of 16 in Paris after losing to Frenchman Felix Lebrun, Alexis Lebrun’s older brother.

Number one is out

Earlier in the day, the table tennis competition saw a historic upset. In the second round, Sweden’s Truls Moregard beat China’s Wang Chuqin four sets to one to advance to the last 16. The victory would have been ordinary if the player eliminated had not been the world number one and main favorite to win the tournament.

Calderano will play again Thursday (Jul. 1), at a time still to be decided, in search of an unprecedented place in the Olympic semi-finals. His opponent will be South Korean Woojin Jang.