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Table tennis elections: when the handcuffs click

Presidents of the ITTF and IWF are being elected in Doha and Riyadh these days. In Qatar, president Petra Sörling, an IOC member, must hold her own against host Khalil Al-Mohannadi. An official who once caused difficulties for the Qatari had been arrested and threatened with several years in prison.

,   and  Jens Weinreich
9 min read
Source: ITTF

It is never a good idea to get involved with the devil. Fighting the devil, on the other hand, is honourable. But it is hard. It creates much work, pain and loss. In Olympic sports and their International Federations (IF), there are many devils, as we all know very well. Please spare me the list of devilish associations and devils today; it would take a day to compile. Let's make it short for once: for example, the devils in table tennis.

The table tennis world is currently meeting in Qatar for the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Doha 2025 and the Annual General Meeting. I even believe that the ITTF has the most members of any world sports federation: 227 National Federations (NF) at present – compared to the United Nations, which has only 193 member states. Hats off!

German version of the article:

Tischtennis-Wahlen: das Klicken der Handschellen
In Doha und Riadh werden dieser Tage Präsidenten in der ITTF und der IWF gewählt. Destination Doha: Dort muss sich Präsidentin Petra Sörling, IOC-Mitglied ex officio, gegen den Gastgeber Khalil Al-Mohannadi behaupten. Ein Funktionär, der dem Katari einst Schwierigkeiten bereitete, wurde verhaftet.
SPORT & POLITICSJens Weinreich

Elections will be held in a few days: defending champion Petra Sörling from Sweden faces presidential competition from Khalil Al-Mohannadi from Qatar and Mohamed El-Hacen Ahmed Salem from Mauritania. The latter is a trained journalist, by the way, so let's see how he rates the quality of this newsletter.

Of course, Sörling and Al-Mohannadi are the favourites. The two once worked together against the then president, Thomas Weikert, who slid straight from the ITTF presidency into a leadership position at the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).

People make deals with the devil. That's just the way it is, even in table tennis. It's always been tough going.

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Table tennis is notorious for all kinds of tricks and rule violations at the table and in the meeting rooms.

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