The head of Qatar's table tennis association Khalil al-Mohannadi said Wednesday he was appealing the results of a fractious election held last month to lead the Olympic sport's international governing body.The Qatari businessman said in a statement on X he had "officially filed an appeal before the (International Table Tennis Federation) tribunal and submitted a formal case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport".Al-Mohannadi narrowly failed to dislodge Sweden's Petra Soerling as president of the ITTF in a vote that ended in such acrimony that the federation's annual general meeting, held in Doha, was suspended. The world body said the assembly was "disrupted by outsiders" after the election result was announced.Al-Mohannadi's statement said he was contesting the acceptance of electronic votes during the election process as well as the register of some associations "in breach of the official registration deadline" among other "core violations".In May the ITTF said the election was conducted "in strict accordance with the ITTF constitution and statutes" and that it "rejects the misconceived statement by some member associations to recognise any other result".The global table tennis body said it would investigate the disturbance by people, believed to be al-Mohannadi supporters, who "were neither delegates from member associations, nor members of the executive board, council, committees, or invited guests".
June 18, 2025 | 10:17 PM