Lars Hamer — Table Tennis World
Published: 4 July 2025
Table tennis World Cup winner Hugo Calderano has been barred from entering the United States because of a visit to Cuba in 2023.
The Brazilian, who had been expected to compete at the WTT Grand Smash in Las Vegas, confirmed he had been denied a visa in a post on his social media channels on Friday.
According to US regulations, any individual who has travelled to Cuba is required to obtain a visa, even if they qualify for the country’s visa waiver programme (VWP), which the 29-year-old does through his Portuguese citizenship.
However, if an individual has travelled to a country on the US’ list of state sponsors of terrorism – which includes Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Iraq – they are no longer eligible for the VWP.
Calderano had been in Havana, Cuba’s capital, for the ITTF Pan American Championships two years ago, where he won his fourth singles title.
“I followed the same protocol as all my previous trips to the United States using my Portuguese passport,” Calderano said. “When I was informed of the situation, I mobilised my entire team to obtain an emergency visa, but unfortunately, there was not enough time.
“It is frustrating to be left out of one of the most important competitions of the season for reasons beyond my control, especially coming off such positive results.”
The WTT Grand Smash events are the sport’s biggest competitions, equivalent to tennis’ grand slams, and represent a huge blow to Calderano’s ambitions.
In April, he won the ITTF Men’s World Cup in Macau, followed by a silver medal at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Doha a month later.
The withdrawal of fourth seed Calderano meant Chinese duo Liang Jingkun and Xiang Peng moved up a place each in the men’s rankings to fourth and ninth, respectively.
Meanwhile, two further withdrawals lower down the rankings saw compatriots Lin Gaoyuan move from 17th to 15th and Chen Yuanyu from 19th to 16th.
Former US President Joe Biden had removed Cuba from the list in January in one of his last acts before stepping down, but his successor Donald Trump signed an order banning nationals from 12 countries from entering the US and placed restrictions on seven others – which included the Caribbean island.
However, Trump said the ban would not apply to those travelling for major sporting events.
On July 2, the Cuban women’s national volleyball team also said they were denied visas ahead of their trip to Puerto Rico for the Women’s Final Four tournament.
Trump’s order, revived from his first term, fully restricts nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US.
The entry of nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela was partly restricted.
The Post has contacted the US Consulate General in Hong Kong for comment.
Additional reporting by Andrew Cesare Richardson
