June 6, 2016

Hugo Calderano and Lady Ruano Win Latin American Cup Titles

2016 ITTF-Latin American Cup
Courtesy of ITTF

Winner earlier in the year of the Men’s Singles event at the ITTF-Latin American Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Brazil’s Hugo Calderano added to his list of titles by clinching the top prize at the 2016 ITTF-Latin American Cup in Guatemala City on the evening of Sunday June 5th.

The success was as anticipated; he was the top seed and clear favorite for gold, being presently listed at no.62 on the Men’s World Rankings.

At the final hurdle he overcame Mexico’s Marcos Madrid, the no.2 seed and named at no.167 in the global order; impressively the 19 year old from Rio de Janeiro emerged successful in five games (9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7).

Owns Both Titles
“I feel very good, I think I have now won all the tournaments in Latin America, so it is a good feeling”, said Hugo Calderano. “I arrived here as the top seed, it was not easy to win the tournament, everyone wanted to beat me; I’m really happy to win the title.”

Hugo Calderano becomes the first player to hold the Men’s Singles title at both the ITTF-Latin American Championships and ITTF Latin American Cup at the same time.

Maintains Brazilian Honor
Furthermore, success for Hugo Calderano meant that he maintained the honor of his country; since the event was first held in 2011, the Men’s Singles winner has always been a Brazilian.

Gustavo Tsuboi and Thiago Monteiro have each won the title twice; Cazuo Matsumoto has secured the title on one occasion. He won in 2014 in Asuncion, Paraguay; just as today, the beaten finalist was Marcos Madrid.

Surprise Winner
Victory for Hugo Calderano was very much as was anticipated; in the counterpart Women’s Singles event the name of the winner was somewhat of a surprise but Colombia’s Lady Ruano is continually springing surprises.

Occupying the no.7 seeded position in the draw, she recovered from a three games to nil deficit to beat Mexico’s Yadira Silva, the no.2 seed, in seven games (8-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 11-8) to become only the third ever winner of the title.

The Dominican Republic’s Wu Xue won in 2011 in Rio de Janeiro and on home soil in Santo Domingo in 2013; the other three occasions have witnessed success for Brazil’s Caroline Kumahara.

Beautiful Blessing
“I am very grateful to God, winning this title is a beautiful blessing; you can’t imagine the sacrifice, training, hard work I have done to be here”, said Lady Ruano. “I dedicate this to my family, my country, my coach and the federation; also to Jhon Cruz my coach who has been with me all the time and to my trainer Angelo.”

It was a performance of great character from one of the quietest, most sincere and most reserved characters you could wish to meet.

“I appreciate the work we have all achieved together”, added Lady Ruano. “I am very happy, I was down but God gives me incredible strength to enable me to recover from three-nil down and win.”

Third Place
Third place in the Men’s Singles event was won by Ecuador’s Alberto Miño, in the counterpart Women’s Singles event the bronze medal was secured by Chile’s Paulina Vega.

“I am happy with third place; obviously I would have liked to have won the tournament but there were good players here”, said Alberto Miño. “Hugo Calderano is in really good shape sat the moment; for me I have to keep training and preparing for the future competitions.”

Similar Reaction
A realistic Alberto Miño; it was a similar reaction from Paulina Vega.

“I am pleased, we always try to become champions but I feel I gave the best, although I didn’t feel very comfortable at the beginning of the tournament”, said Paulina Vega. “I had to solve problems during matches, to gain third place I had to keep calm and fight point by point.”

Play Off Contests
Alberto Mino beat Brazil’s Eric Jouti in the play-off contest (11-3, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6); Paulina Vega overcame Venezuela’s Gremlis Arvelo (11-7, 9-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-8).