Rio Olympics: Rio native Calderano thrills rowdy fans

Rio de Janeiro: Rio-born table tennis player Hugo Calderano thrived on a football stadium-like atmosphere on Sunday to beat world No. 15 Tang Peng of Hong Kong 4-2 and move into the fourth round of the Olympic men’s singles competition.

The 20-year-old, currently ranked world No. 54, will next face Japan’s Jun Mizutani, who eliminated Panagiotis Gionis of Greece 4-1.

Calderano’s opponent Tang made a series of mistakes under the glare of an increasingly raucous audience, who stomped their feet and booed loudly as he served.

“I didn’t put limits on myself, I knew I had the potential so I just tried to keep focused on every match,” he said.