Hugo didn’t have long to celebrate winning the WTT Contender Rio de Janeiro. After clinching the title in Rio on Sunday (26th), he will be in action again this week, but on the other side of the planet. His next event on the world table tennis circuit will be the WTT Champions Chongqing in China. The tournament starts on Thursday (30th), but Hugo will make his debut on Friday (31st) against Sweden’s Truls Moregard, at 7:30 am (Brasília time).

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With the title in Brazil, Hugo moved up from 8th to 6th in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings and will be seeded 5th at the WTT Champions Chongqing. He will be joined by four of the top five ranked players, three of whom will be playing at home. China’s Wang Chuqin (WR1), Liang Jingkun (WR3), Fan Zhendong (WR4) and France’s Felix Lebrun (WR5) are the main names among the entries.

PATH DEFINED

The Infinity Arena at the Huaxi International Sports and Culture Center will host the WTT Champions Chongqing. After the draw, Hugo knew his possible path way in  the competition. If he defeats Truls Moregard, he will meet the winner of the match between German Dimitrij Ovtcharov (WR14) and Japanese Shunsuke Togami (WR19) in the second round.

+ Read also: look back at Hugo’s results so far in 2024

Hugo, Truls Moregard, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Shunsuke Togami are at the bottom bracket along with China’s Liang Jingkun, Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic (WR18) and France’s Simon Gauzy (WR26) and Alexis Lebrun (WR29). One of these four could cross his path in a possible quarterfinal. This will be the second WTT Champions of the season. In the first one, in Incheon, South Korea, Hugo was the runner-up.

BRAZILIANS IN CHINA

The WTT Champions events bring together the top 30 men and women in the world rankings and four invited athletes, two men and two women. Hugo and Bruna Takahashi are the only Brazilians eligible to compete in the Champions Chongqing. Bruna also makes her debut on Friday and her opponent will be Japan’s Hina Hayata (WR5).

+ WTT Rio champion, Hugo climbs two positions in the world rankings

COMPETITION SYSTEM

All the matches in the WTT Champions Chongqing will be played in a single-elimination system, with five matches to determine the champion. The games will be best of five games until the quarter-final stage. The two semi-finals and the final will be played in up to seven games.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Check out the points and prize money at the WTT Champions Chongqing:

Champion: 1000 points / US$ 35,000

Runner-up: 700 points / US$ 27,000

Semi-final: 350 points / US$ 18,000

Quarterfinals: 175 points / US$ 14,500

2nd Round: 90 points / US$ 11,000

1st Round: 15 points / US$ 8,500

WTT CHAMPIONS CHONGQING SCHEDULE

Check out the schedule for each day of competition:

Thursday (30/05) – Round 1

Friday (31/05) – Round 1

Saturday (01/06) – Round 2

Sunday (02/06) – Quarter-finals and Semi-finals

Monday (03/06) – Final

The matches start at 11 a.m. local time (midnight the day before Brasília time).

HOW TO FOLLOW

The streaming service Star+ will be streaming the WTT Champions Chongqing matches to Brazil. And, as always, we’ll also have our coverage on Team Calderano’s Instagram and Telegram channels!