Igor Levitin (3rd from left), First Vice President of the Russian Olympic Committee, speaks about the role of sport at the International Economic Forum. Photo: Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire/dpa. (Source: dpa)
Düsseldorf (dpa) – The Russian attack on the Ukraine has personal consequences for the European table tennis sport. The Russian Igor Levitin has resigned, at least for the time being, as President of the European association.
This was announced by the ETTU after a meeting of the executive committee. The 70-year-old Levitin is a close confidant of Vladimir Putin. Among other things, he was an adviser to the Russian president and his country’s transport minister. In September 2019 he was elected head of ETTU.
Since the continental association also decided, following the example of the world association ITTF, to temporarily no longer allow Russian and Belarusian players and officials at international events, the former world-class player Vladimir Samsonov also had to vacate his post as ETTU vice-president. The three-time European champion and World Cup runner-up in 1997 comes from Belarus.
The further course of the Champions League season has not yet been decided. The two German clubs Borussia Düsseldorf and 1. FC Saarbrücken will play the first finalist there this Thursday from 7 p.m. After the 3-0 win in the first leg, defending champions Düsseldorf have the better chances. The second semi-final is a Russian duel between UMMC Yekaterinburg and Fakel Orenburg, the club of the currently injured German national player Dimitrij Ovtcharov. This game has not yet been officially canceled by the ETTU. However, the Düsseldorfers have already announced that they will not contest a possible final against a Russian team under any circumstances.