Who is Chuqin Wang, Calderano's opponent in the World Table Tennis final?

Hugo Calderano will continue to face tough opponents in the Table Tennis World Championships, which will take place this Sunday, the 25th, in Doha, Qatar. To become the first Brazilian in history to win the tournament title, the Rio native will need to beat the number two in the rankings of the sport, the Chinese Wang Chuqin .

This Saturday, Hugo defeated table tennis player Liang Jingkun 4-3 in the semi-finals of the World Championship. This is the first time an athlete from the southern hemisphere has made it this far in the competition.

Now in the final, the challenge is against Chuqin, who boasts eight gold medals from the tournament, but has never won while competing in singles, all of the Chinese's medals were won in doubles or mixed doubles.

The Chinese athlete's performance at the Olympics is also noteworthy. In Paris 2024, Calderano's opponent consolidated gold in mixed doubles and teams.

The Brazilian is also highly regarded among the best in the world competition and currently occupies third place in the ranking, behind Chuqin and the Chinese Lin Shindong, who was eliminated by Calderano's next opponent in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Past confrontations

Calderano and Chuqin have faced each other on other occasions. The 25-year-old left-hander has come out on top in five of the seven duels between them. However, in the last clash between the table tennis players, the 28-year-old Brazilian beat the Chinese in the World Cup semi-finals, played in April this year in Macau.

Despite leaving with the title of the competition, Calderano revealed, in an interview with Cazé TV after the victory this Saturday, that he will face the best player in the world and sees the challenge as a great battle towards the unprecedented title of the tournament.

"The final will be a challenging battle, the opponent (C. Wang) is the best in the world even though he is ranked second. He has dominated the biggest competitions for a few years now, I beat him last time, let's see what happens", he said.