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Hugo Calderano, current champion of the World Cup of table tennis and one of the most prominent names in the sport globally, has been forced to withdraw from the WTT US Smash tournament in Las Vegas due to a migration issue related to his previous participation in a tournament in Cuba.
Calderano, Portuguese citizen and star of Brazilian table tennis, had followed the usual procedure to enter the United States under the ESTA system, which is available to citizens of the European Union.
However, his request was blocked for an unexpected reason: he traveled to Cuba in 2023 to participate in the Pan American Championships and the Olympic qualifier for Paris 2024, events endorsed by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
According to the official statement from Hugo on his website, U.S. immigration authorities informed him that he no longer qualified for the visa waiver due to his visit to the Caribbean island.
The athlete attempted to obtain an emergency visa with the support of the United States Table Tennis Association (USATT) and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), but although the application was accepted, there was not enough time to schedule the consular interview before the tournament, which began last Thursday, July 3rd.
I followed the same protocol as in all my previous trips with my Portuguese passport. When I was informed of the situation, I mobilized my entire team to obtain an emergency visa, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough time,” Calderano explained.
It is frustrating to be excluded from one of the most important competitions of the season due to circumstances beyond my control, especially after achieving such positive results.
Y Hugo is experiencing an exceptional moment: in the last two months, he has won the World Cup, earned silver at the World Championship, and claimed the WTT Star Contender in Ljubljana last weekend. Furthermore, he concluded his tenure with the German club Liebherr Ochsenhausen by leading them to the league title after nine seasons.
At just 28 years old, this young man born in Rio de Janeiro is fluent in seven languages, plays the violin, solves Rubik's cubes in under six seconds, and holds a historic record: he is the first non-Asian and non-European player to win the World Table Tennis Championship.
In this past April, in Macao, he defeated the number one, two, and three players in the world to become champion, breaking a seemingly unbreakable dominance. “He could have been a champion in any discipline, but he chose a racket and a table,” wrote a sports journalist.
His path to success was early and unconventional. He learned to read at just 4 years old, mastered mathematics without pencil or paper, and began training in table tennis at the age of 2. By 14, he had already moved to São Paulo to join the national team, and today he boasts six Pan American gold medals, a World Cup title, a world championship medal, and multiple championships in leagues in Japan, Germany, and Russia.
Lady Phyll, another face of the ban
Although the case has surprised the international sports community, it is not the first time a trip to Cuba has posed a challenge for athletes or foreign figures.
The immigration restrictions imposed by the United States include penalties for those who have visited countries under embargo or on special lists, such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. Even an official or sporting visit can mark a passport for life.
A few days earlier, Lady Phyll, an emblematic voice of the LGBTQIA+ community in the United Kingdom, had a similar experience while attempting to travel to Washington to deliver the keynote speech at the WorldPride 2025 human rights conference.
After her recent visit to Cuba, which she described as a journey of "solidarity, learning, and love," her entry into the U.S. was blocked for the same reason.
“The systems that try to silence us should already know: we do not disappear by being silenced. I still appear”, she wrote on Facebook, before delivering her speech via video call.
In their virtual intervention, they denounced the use of colonial laws as a weapon against the LGBTQIA+ community and called for unity in the fight for justice.
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