★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ ITTF ELECTIONS ≡
Qatar’s Khalil Al-Mohannadi, the Senior Executive Vice President of the International Table Tennis Federation, who has been an officer of the federation for most of the last 28 years, lost the Presidential election held at the ITTF Annual General Meeting on Doha on 27 May, 104-102, against incumbent Petra Sorling (SWE).
He was part of an unrestrained protest shortly after the vote was posted, with multiple people yelling and screaming at the ITTF officials running the meeting – as a candidate, Sorling was not in charge during the voting – that the vote was invalid because some federations joined online after the initial roll call to confirm a quorum.
The meeting was eventually suspended and with several elections still to be held, must be re-established before November 2025. The protesters promised a legal follow-up and on Friday, Al-Mohannadi announced it on X:
“Khalil Al Mohannadi officially challenges the elections of the International Table Tennis Federation
“President of the Qatari, Arab and Asian Federations in an official statement:
“– Appeal to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Tribunal
“– Formal claim before the [Court of Arbitration for Sport]
“– Revealing serious violations in voting, registration, and election supervision.
“– A demand to freeze electronic voting until integrity and transparency are ensured.
“‘We will not remain silent about manipulation…and we will continue to defend the legitimacy of our sport and our institutions’ – Khalil bin Ahmed Al Mohannadi”
The ITTF issued a statement on the election two days afterwards, on 29 May, which included:
● “[T]he ITTF would like to clarify that the election process was conducted in strict accordance with the ITTF Constitution and Statutes and in full respect of the Member Associations’ rights.”
● “In accordance with the ITTF Statutes (1.48.1.), each Member Association present at the AGM, not in arrears, has one vote, irrespective of whether it is present in person or online, at the time of the roll call or at a later stage during the AGM.”
● “In light of the above, the ITTF rejects the misconceived statement by some Member Associations to recognise any other result.
“The ITTF will not comment any further on the election process at this stage and will address any formal complaint it should receive in the appropriate forum.”
But Al-Mohannadi’s announcement in an accompanying photo included this important element, to accompany a complaint to the Court of Arbitration for Sport:
“This follows the submission of a formal complaint to the Nominations Committee, as required by the ITTF Constitution and Electoral Regulations, and within the legal time frame.”
Who is the head of the ITTF Nominations Committee? Fellow Qatari Abdulla Al-Mulla, who “led” much of the protesting with the microphone in his hand, yelling at ITTF Secretary General Raul Calin (ESP) and Executive Vice President Graham Symons (AUS).
The ITTF will defend, as it says, but Al-Mulla, Al-Mohannedi and others may also come under scrutiny from the independent ITTF Integrity Unit for their actions which closed down the Annual General Meeting.
In fact, Al-Mulla had a complaint filed against him with the Integrity Unit in July 2023, for actions in the Nominations Committee that were alleged that “he had obstructed the democratic process and the will of the majority of the NomCom members.” Interestingly, he was found not to have breached the ITTF’s rules by an independent tribunal in April 2024, with the decision granting him wide latitude to run his meetings as he saw fit. That might apply again, and if so, it would not be in Al-Mohannadi’s favor.
So the Integrity Unit may have more to say in this matter.
In any case, the ITTF continues in turmoil. The only thing that is sure is that the continuation of the Annual General Meeting later this year will not be held in Qatar.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
