The case is closed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) tribunal have both dismissed appeals filed by the candidate for the presidency of the body, Khalil Al-Mohannadi, and the Qatar Federation. The General Assembly will therefore be able to conclude, six months after it began, on November 15. The meeting will be held virtually in order to gather as many participants as possible and to start again on a more serene basis.
Moving forward with “renewed unity”
The agenda has already been announced: election of ITTF Executive Vice Presidents, ratification of ITTF Council members, appointment of committee members, then the topic of the organization's centenary and the next General Assembly. The ITTF is confident that the resumption of the General Assembly will conclude this chapter in a positive spirit and provide an opportunity to move forward with renewed unity, fully dedicated to promoting table tennis worldwide. ", the authority said in a press release.
« We haven't been asleep these past few months ", assures Petra Sörling to Francs Jeux, citing the success of the Grand Smashes in Las Vegas and Malmö. Nevertheless, " We need our executive committee now to move forward ", underlines the president. " The most important thing is to assemble a good team and focus on the future. We have very good candidates from all continents. I'm almost certain that for the first time, we will have a woman among our vice-presidents. " she adds, emphasizing the need to represent the world of table tennis in all its diversity. Four women, from four different continents, are candidates: Beatrice Romanescu (Romania), Hajera Kajee (South Africa), Zeina Rashid (Jordan) and Virginia Sung (United States).
Constitution, governance and marketing
Once formed, this new team will work in particular on the draft revision of the ITTF Constitution. " When the vice-presidents are elected, we will be able to move forward more quickly. Our Constitution is 100 years old, it is time to put a new one in place. The sporting landscape has completely changed. We are also competing with other activities, TikTok, etc. This Constitution will be built with our members, so it will reflect our movement, as well as the times we live in. I hope it can guide and inspire us. We have momentum: in Sweden, I was asked why we don't move the tables slightly to accommodate more people in the hall. We have proof of the enormous interest our events generate; we need a Constitution that reflects this new era for table tennis. »
In view of the turbulence of the elective General Assembly in May, organized in the country of one of the candidates, Petra Sörling also wishes to " clean up the Constitution to make governance better She cites other areas to be addressed, which have so far been under-exploited: school programs and mentoring from member federations. She also mentions the establishment of a marketing committee and the second edition of the eSports Table Tennis World Championships in Saudi Arabia. Initially planned for the end of the year, the event will take place in 2026, rather during the first half of the year, although the date has not yet been set. We had over 200 participants in the first edition in Sweden. The competition took place in the table tennis environment. This time, the idea is to move more into the digital world. ", announces the president of the ITTF, with the objective of " learn and be at the eSports Olympics in 2027 ».
