Claudio Kano, a Brazilian table tennis player from Japan, is honored in today’s Doodle. He contributed to the sport’s popularity and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time.
On December 18th, Kano was born in So Paulo, Brazil. He began playing table tennis at the Clube Showa, where the best players in the area gathered, when he was 10 years old. The players were impressed by Kano’s skill and hard work, and they suggested that he join the So Bernardo Club, one of the best table tennis teams in the country.
A few years later, Kano was competing against some of the world’s most aggressive players. Kano quickly made friends with professional players on the international circuit because he spoke English, Japanese, and Spanish fluently. In the wake of playing with Olympic heroes in Sweden for a long time, Kano got back to Brazil as perhaps of the most capable player in the country.
Kano became Brazil’s unofficial manager at the age of 17 and mentored younger players. In addition, Kano became a role model for children all over Brazil because of his extraordinary discipline and charisma. At the 1983 Pan American Games, he won two gold medals in men’s doubles and men’s team table tennis, elevating him to the status of a national hero. At the Pan American Games, Kano won an additional ten medals, including five gold ones.
In addition, Kano competed in the Olympics in Barcelona in 1993 and Seoul in 1988, where he finished in the top 20.
At age 30, he was on the cusp of contending in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he died in a terrible bike mishap. The world-class table tennis player leaves behind a glittering legacy, and his success has made table tennis a well-known sport in Brazil. The best players in the country continue to look up to Kano as an example.