BRAZIL IN MIX OF CHAMPS

Hugo, Bruna enter table tennis record books with S'pore Smash doubles title

- David Lee

From the land that worships samba football, Brazil now have their first table tennis Grand Smash champions as world No. 5 Hugo Calderano and Bruna Takahashi stunned South Korea's top-ranked Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 13-11) in the mixed doubles final of the US$1.55 million (S$1.96 million) Singapore Smash on Feb 27.

Since teaming up in 2018, it has been a long way to the top for Rubik's Cube lover Calderano and former gymnast Takahashi, but they have managed to put the pieces together after several twists and turns.

They have become not just the first non-Chinese Singapore Smash winners, but also the first players from the Americas to win a title at Grand Smash level, the highest tier on the World Table Tennis series.

While they had been swept by the South Koreans in their two previous meetings, the Brazilians were aggressive from the start, with their serves from high tosses causing significant trouble with increased speed and deceptive spins, dovetailing seamlessly as they took the first two games with relative ease.

Lim and Shin, who reached the top of the rankings soon after partnering each other in 2023 and claimed Paris 2024 Olympics bronze, tried to fight back.

They led 4-0 and 8-4 in the third game, but eventually rued not being able to convert two game points as Calderano, 29, and Takahashi, 25, claimed the trophies and US$10,000 winners' cheque.