Hugo Hoyama, a third-generation Japanese-Brazilian table tennis coach, is working to impart to Brazil's Olympic hopefuls the skills and spirit he learned in Japan.
Hoyama, 46, was born in Sao Bernando do Campo, Sao Paulo, and began playing table tennis at the age of 7 at a local elementary school before joining a club to improve his skills.
When he was 15, he was offered an opportunity by a table tennis equipment manufacturer to train at Nihon University, which had a top-class table tennis team at the time.