Mapusa (Goa), Jan 28 – The World No.7 Hugo Calderano registered a stunning victory against six-time Olympic medal winner Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany to reach the men’s singles final of the ongoing World Table Tennis Star Contender Goa 2024 at the Peddem Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.
Brazil’s Calderano began the semifinal match on a positive note and won the first game before former World No.1 Ovtcharov made a comeback to level the score in the thrilling contest. However, Calderano looked in control of his shots in the next two games and clinched a 3-1 (11-7, 8-11, 15-13, 11-6) victory over the German paddler.
World No.8 Felix Lebrun, on the other hand, also continued his winning form to enter the final of the men’s singles category. The 17-year-old French paddler lost the first game but made a fine comeback to defeat Patrick Franziska of Germany 3-1 (8-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9) in the semi-final match.
Meanwhile, World No.24 Nina Mittelham produced an upset in the semis of the women’s singles. The German paddler got better of World No. 8 Shin Yubin 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 1-11, 11-8) in a thrilling contest to reach the final where she will face Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching who defeated Monaco’s Xiaoxin Yang 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4) in straight games.
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