True to its name, World Table Tennis (WTT) is a gathering of players the world over. While the odds in table tennis strongly favor Eurasia, a growing contingent of players from outside the traditional "pong belt" are making things interesting. Case in point is Hugo Calderano (pictured). The world #6 from Brazil is the first player from South America to crack the top 10 of the world rankings. At the WTT Middle East Hub currently underway in Doha, Qatar, Calderano is seeded second in men's singles behind Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan. While Calderano's ascent is remarkable, he is not stuck playing Atlas for the western hemisphere all by himself. Rather, he is the flagbearer for an intercontinental brigade of players from Latin and North America doing battle on the international stage. When the 32-player main draws commenced today in Doha, four women and two men from the western hemisphere were in contention. The women's draw featured Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico, Lily Zhang of the United States, Zhang Mo of Canada and Bruna Takahashi of Brazil. The men's field featured Takahashi's countrymen Calderano and Gustavo Tsuboi. The opening round of 32 was not the best showing for the western women. Zhang Mo was unable to build on her game one victory against veteran penholder Shan Xiaona of Germany. Bruna Takahashi was summarily swept by Ganna Gaponova of Ukraine. Adriana Diaz lost a seesaw battle with Margaryta Pesotska, another Ukrainian delegate, in five games. Lily Zhang suffered a similar fate, surrendering a 2-1 lead to lefty Kasumi Ishikawa of Japan. With all the western women gone, it would fall on a man from Brazil to prop up our underrepresented hemisphere. By a fluke, the Brazilian emissaries Calderano and Tsuboi were paired together in the round of 32. While this guaranteed that one westerner would survive to play Thursday, it also whittled the field down to exactly one. The only question would be, which one? It was a closely contested affair, with both players knowing each other all too well. The explosive Calderano eked out the first game at deuce, 12-10, but the steady lefty Tsuboi leveled matters, 11-8 in the second frame. Games three and four both mirrored the first, with the world #6 Calderano ultimately winning all six post-deuce points in the match. Once the leader of an intercontinental army, Hugo Calderano now stands alone. Cruelly forced to sacrifice his second in command in order to preserve the mission, this flag bearer for the western hemisphere must now lower the pointed end of the flagpole and charge ahead.

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