On Thursday (7), Hugo’s next challenge on the World Table Tennis circuit begins. Between March 7th and 17th, the world’s best table tennis players will be competing in the WTT Smash Singapore. Hugo is seeded number 7 in the event and is waiting for the draw and the end of qualifying to find out his first opponent in the competition.

This will be the third edition of the Singapore Smash. Last year, Hugo had a great run in the event, losing in the semi-finals to Olympic champion Ma Long.

Awarding 2000 points in the ITTF world ranking to the champion, the Singapore Smash will be attended by all the world’s table tennis elite, with all the top-20 athletes in the men’s singles ranking entered for the competition. Among them are China’s Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long, who faced Hugo in the semi-finals of the tournament in 2023, Olympic medalist Tomokazu Harimoto, from Japan, and Frenchman Felix Lebrun, the best European in the world rankings

BRAZILIANS IN SINGAPORE

In the men’s singles, Hugo is the only Brazilian who has made it straight into the main draw. Eric Jouti, Vitor Ishiy and Guilherme Teodoro are in the qualifying round. In the women’s singles, Bruna Takahashi entered the main draw and is hoping for her sister Giulia, who is playing the qualifying round in Singapore, to join her.

Brazil will also have three pairs in the doubles brackets. In the men’s doubles, Vitor Ishiy will play alongside Guilherme Teodoro. The Takahashi sisters also entered in the women’s doubles tournament. Finally, in the mixed doubles, Bruna and Vitor are listed with the third best combined ranking of the pairs competing in the event.

COMPETITION SYSTEM

All the matches at WTT Smash Singapore 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 be best-of-seven sets.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Check out the scores and prizes for the WTT Smash Singapore:

Champion: 2000 points / US$ 60,000
Runner-up: 140 points / US$ 32,500
Semi-final: 700 points / US$ 17,000
Quarterfinal: 350 points / US$ 14,000
Round of 16: 175 points / US$ 9,500
2nd Round: 90 points / US$ 7,000
1st Round: 20 points / US$ 5,000

WTT SMASH SINGAPORE SCHEDULE

Check out the schedule for each day of competition:

Thursday (07/03) – 1st qualifying round
Friday (08/03) – 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds
Saturday (09/03) – 2nd and 3rd qualifying rounds
Sunday (10/03) – 1st round
Monday (11/03) – 1st round
Tuesday (12/03) – Round 2
Wednesday (13/03) – 2nd round
Thursday (14/03) – Round of 16
Friday (15/03) – Quarter-finals
Saturday (16/03) – Semi-finals
Sunday (17/03) – Final

The matches start at 10 a.m. local time (11 p.m. the day before Brasília time).

HOW TO FOLLOW

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