Hugo’s next stop on the world table tennis circuit will be in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He will start the WTT Saudi Smash on Saturday (4) when the main draw players will be in action. The tournament champion will be crowned on May 11 after six matches. Hugo is seeded 8th and will wait for the qualifying rounds to be completed to find out who his opening match opponent will be.

The event will feature the sport’s elite, including Hugo and all of the other top 20 players in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) men’s singles world rankings. Among them are China’s Wang Chuqin, the current world number one, Fan Zhendong, the current two-time world champion, and Ma Long, the 2024 World Cup winner and Olympic champion at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

In addition to the top three, China has two other athletes in the top 10: Liang Jingkun (WR4) and Lin Gaoyuan (WR6). Other players to note are Lin Yun-ju from Taiwan (WR7), Tomokazu Harimoto from Japan (WR9) and Felix Lebrun from France (WR5), the best European in the world ranking.

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

The matches of the first edition of Smash Saudi Arabia will take place at the King Abdullah Sports Pavilion.

BRAZILIANS IN SAUDI ARABIA

Hugo is the only Brazilian to qualify directly for the main draw of the men’s WTT Saudi Smash. Vitor Ishiy, Eric Jouti and Guilherme Teodoro are also in the competition but will have to play in the qualifying round. Like Hugo, Bruna Takahashi is also guaranteed a place in the decisive stage of the tournament and is waiting to be joined by her sister Giulia, who will be competing in the qualifying round in Saudi Arabia.

+ Follow Hugo on his official channels: Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

In addition to the singles competition, Brazil will also be competing in the doubles competition with five teams. Bruna Takahashi and Vitor Ishiy will represent the country in the mixed doubles.  Eric Jouti will partner with Ng Wing Lam from Hong Kong. Among the men, Vitor Ishiy and Guilherme Teodoro form the Brazilian duet and Eric Jouti will be playing together with Nandor Ecseki from Hungary. And in the women’s team, sisters Bruna and Giulia Takahashi will play together.

COMPETITION SYSTEM

All the matches in the WTT Saudi Smash will be played in a single-elimination system. The matches will be played in best of five sets until the round of 16. From the quarter-finals onwards, the matches will then be best of seven sets.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Check out the points and prizes for the WTT Saudi Smash:

Champion: 2000 points / US$ 65,000
Runner-up: 1400 points / US$ 33,050
Semi-finalists: 700 points / US$ 20,750
Quarter-finalists: 350 points / US$ 17,000
Round of 16: 175 points / US$ 14,000
2nd Round: 90 points / US$ 11,000
1st Round: 20 points / US$ 8,500

WTT SAUDI SMASH SCHEDULE

Check out the schedule for each day of the tournament:

Wednesday (01/05) – 1st qualifying round
Thursday (02/05) – 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds
Friday (03/05) – 2nd and 3rd qualifying rounds
Saturday (04/05) – 1st round
Sunday (05/05) – 1st round
Monday (06/05) – 2nd round
Tuesday (07/05) – 2nd round
Wednesday (08/05) – Round of 16
Thursday (09/05) – Quarter-finals
Friday (10/05) – Semi-finals
Saturday (11/05) – Final

The matches start at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. the day before Brasília time).

HOW TO FOLLOW

The Star+ streaming service will broadcast the matches on table 1 of the WTT Saudi Smash main draw for Brazil. In addition, World Table Tennis YouTube will be broadcasting the matches on the other tables. And, as always, we’ll also have our coverage on Team Calderano’s Instagram and Telegram channels!