Hugo’s last appearance at the table in 2024 will be the Waldner Cup, an event that will bring together great names from table tennis’ present and past for a celebration of the sport in Oslo, Norway. The event’s program runs from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th, with the main attraction being the tournament between Team World and Team Asia, featuring many international top players. Find out all about it here:

The Waldner Cup

The Waldner Cup was created by Olympic champion (1992) and two-time world champion (1989 and 1997) Jan-Ove Waldner to promote table tennis around the world. Considered one of the greatest table tennis players of all time, the Swedish former player brings together table tennis stars for two days of competitions between athletes from Asia and the rest of the world.

Team World vs. Team Asia

Hugo is the top-ranked player (#7) on the World Team, led by Waldner. He will be joined by Sweden’s Truls Moregard (#9), Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov (#19), Puerto Rico’s Adriana Díaz (#16) and Romania’s Bernadette Szocs (#14).

Team Asia will be captained by China’s Ma Long, a two-time Olympic champion (2016 and 2020) and three-time world champion (2015, 2017 and 2019). His team will include China’s Chen Meng (#4), South Korea’s Jang Woojin (#14), Lim Jonghoon (#35) and Shin Yubin (#11), Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko (#41) and India’s Manika Batra (#25).

How it works

The team captain picks which players are set up against the rival team for each match. The scoring system is simple; one point per win on the first day of the cup, and two points on the second day. The team to reach most points win the title as champions of the Waldner Cup.

Other attractions

On Friday, the event will feature exhibition matches. Hugo will take part in one of them, a doubles match, playing alongside the president of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports, Zaineb Al-Samarai. On the other side will be Bernadette Szocs and the president of the Norwegian Table Tennis Federation, Christian Ibenfeldt. In the other matches, the highlight will be the showdown between Ma Long and Waldner.

Schedule

Check out the Waldner Cup schedule below:

Friday (Dec. 13)

• Exhibition matches

Saturday (Dec. 14)

• First day of competition

Sunday (Dec. 15)

• Second day of matches

How to watch

The Waldner Cup will be streamed online on the event’s official website. A subscription of US$ 6.99 is required.